Kamen Rider Zero ARC 2: The Valkyrie's Judgement
by DiscontentCat
Summary: The Earth's Tree has made its move, but so have Zero and Amnesia. The fight continues to rage on between the Dopant producers and the Dopant busters. But the Dopants only continue to grow stronger day by day. Which side will yield? And what happens when a new, unknown force enters the scene? (Contains fantasy violence, cursing, and furry/anthropomorphic characters)
1. Recap

After being forced to protect his friend, Arata Sakurai took on the identity of Kamen Rider Zero, helping to defend the city of Jinsoku against the monstrous Dopants led by the mysterious organization known as "The Earth's Tree." Unfortunately for Arata, these Dopants were stronger than the average run of the mill monster. Their powers were stronger, and their bodies were sturdier. Not even the specialized equipment of the anti-Dopant team, "Amnesia," was enough to take them on. As a result, he was thrown into an uphill battle, constantly having to fight bigger and stronger enemies.

In the most recent attack, Arata was knocked out of commission by the Magma Dopant and the Driver-wearing shooter, Daiki, the leading Memory salesman set in Jinsoku. With Arata out, Amnesia was forced to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately for them, the attackers were simply too strong for them to handle. In a last ditch effort to save the city and the rest of their team, troopers 6 and 7 released Arata so that they could fight side by side and finally take the attackers down. And now...Arata has been taken back into Amnesia's custody...

* * *

Wanna catch up? Check out the first arc here: fanfiction dot net / s/10820839/1/Kamen-Rider-Zero-ARC-1


	2. Chapter 1: The Broadcast Begins

Kamen Rider Zero Arc 2

CH 1: _B_ egin the _Broadcast_

Arata watched silently as furs all around were stacking box after box around the room. He watched as a familiar table was placed against the wall. He flicked his tail nervously. _Man…Erika's gonna be back from the Q recovery room in any minute now…_ he thought to himself, _I hope she's not too upset about what happened…_ Shaking his head and pushing the thought out of his mind for now, he turned to face 1, who was standing beside him casually. "Hey…one?" he began hesitantly. The reptile turned to face him upon hearing him. "I just wanted to thank you for doing this."

"Just don't tell any of your friends about this," 1 replied in a firm tone, "no Face Space or whatever you kids are using these days."

"Eheheh…d-don't worry, I don't plan to…" Arata replied with an awkward scratch to the back of his head. The commander nodded in satisfaction before returning his attention to the workers. Arata sighed and looked to them as well once he finally got himself to relax.

It was hard for him to believe what had happened after the fight with Magma and the mysterious 'other rider.' Once he had been taken in, he found out that the troopers' staged arrest hadn't tricked the commander. On top of that, he was told that he would be assigned as a secret new member to Amnesia. And on top of _that_ , they were moving Erika's garden over to their facility. Whilst that did mean that they would be looking over her collected data and would be monitoring any activity involving it, it did mean that it would be safer here. Whilst this did put Arata's mind at ease, he just wasn't sure about how happy _Erika_ would feel about all of this. In fact, he wasn't even sure about her current state of mind at all. He knew that the last video feed he himself had been in was of him being 'arrested,' and he knew that after he had arrived at the facility, they had taken Erika into custody as well. He also found out that they had decided to allow her into the Q recovery room for a quicker recovery.

With all of that in mind, the panther had no doubt in his mind that Erika's state of mind wasn't entirely going to be in the most pleasant state it has ever been. He gulped slightly; any minute now, and she would come into the room and flip him over. He closed his eyes and shivered at the thought. He could already feel his head aching from the impact. He tapped his foot against the floor. Yup, solid concrete. Thankfully, the place had a Q recovery room in the first place, but that just left more of an excuse for Erika to flip him over even _more_ times.

So caught up was he in his thoughts that he nearly jumped out of his fur when someone came into the room and knocked on the wall to grab the attention of the two males. He snapped his eyes open and saw a fur standing in the doorway. "Hey uhh…just letting you guys know," she said to the two of them, "Tech's coming in with Erika soon. They're just doing some routine checkups first."

"Thank you," 1 replied with a slight bow, "You're dismissed." The fur bowed back before leaving to go about her business. Once she was gone, Arata decided to speak up again.

"Hey, so uh…" he flicked his tail slightly, "thanks for the…uh… Th-the thing…" 1 slowly turned towards him.

"The…thing?" The feline swiveled his ears downwards.

"Y…you know…" he continued, "for Erika?" Silence passed between the two of them.

"I thought…you already thanked me for the lab."

"Well, yeah…" he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "b-but I meant with the…" He clicked his tongue briefly. "The recovery room thing…" The two of them held gazes for a while.

"Rrrrrrrrrrright," 1 finally replied, "well…don't expect many more favors such as this one commonly. Recovery Memories don't come cheap around here. On top of that, they aren't rechargeable either. It's why we don't use them as much as we'd like."

"I see," said Arata with a nod, "I'll try to keep that in mind then. And no, I won't be expecting a lot of favo—ACK!" He was cut off as he was met with a sudden flick to his forehead. "OW, wh-what the—" When he turned to see what _had_ flicked him, he was greeted with a firm slap to his face.

"JERK!" Erika's stern voice sounded out in front of him. Before he could so much as open his mouth to respond, the snow leopard rushed closer and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Don't you…EVER…make me worry like that ever again… Alright?" Hearing this, Arata softened up on her and wrapped his own arms around her.

"Okay Erika," he said softly, "I won't." He heard her sniffle slightly.

"Why didn't you call?" she asked, "I didn't even get so much as a text message."

Arata chuckled slightly. "Well, I mean I was strapped down to a bed." He heard more sniffles from her.

"Well why didn't you call _after_ the fight then?"

"W…well," Arata went on, "I kinda had to deal with…you know…getting _arrested_ first. Then I had to settle things from there." Erika shook her head before removing it from Arata's shoulders. She held his gaze with tear ridden eyes.

"Well then why didn't you call after everything was settled?"

"W-well by the time I was free, you were already in the recovery room."

"Well then _why_ didn't you just come and visit me?"

"Because…um…" He placed a finger to his chin. "…Shit…" Erika slapped him across the face again before going back in for an even tighter hug. It was at that point that Erika began to fully break down.

"Dammit Arata," she said a bit more harshly, "You had me worried _sick_!" She squeezed him tightly as more tears began to stream down her eyes. Unsure of what else to do, Arata gently patted her on the back.

"I'm…sorry Erika," he apologized softly, "I didn't mean to worry you like that…" This time, Erika didn't respond. Instead, she continued to cry into his shoulder and hug him tightly.

"…Idiot…" she said bitterly before curling her tail around him as well. Arata just sighed and closed his eyes, allowing her to let everything out. They stood there for a good moment, none of them saying anything to each other. For a while, it seemed as though they had forgotten about where they were.

"…Ahem." But the sound of 1 clearing his throat brought them back into reality. Erika jerked and scrambled back, awkwardly removing herself from the hug and standing straight to face forward. Arata did the same, albeit with a much slower reaction time. It was then that they noticed Tech standing beside the Amnesia commander. "It's time that we got down to business," 1 continued before turning to the vixen beside him. "Tech, if you would?"

"Right," she replied with a slight nod, "Now, as you two can tell, we have moved Erika's Garden into our facility. While we would have preferred to not have one ourselves, it is a much better alternative to just knowingly leaving yours there for people to stumble upon. Additionally, it can help us gather more data on how organic Memories work." She tilted her head slightly towards Erika. "And on that subject… Erika?"

"Y-yes?" the snow leopard answered a bit nervously.

"From here on out, any information and data that you find on Memories is to be shared with us. _No_ exceptions."

"Also," 1 cut in, "any and all experiments and / or studies are to be done here, and here alone. Understood?" Erika gulped and nodded, not entirely able to find her voice at the given moment. Timidly, Arata raised his paw. 1 noticed this and nodded to him. "Yes?"

"Um…" he began, "I was just wondering… H-how will being a member of Amnesia affect our lives? Like…what's going to change for us?" Erika looked to the reptilian commander eagerly, wanting to hear this as well. 1 took a moment to formulate his thoughts before he answered the black furred feline.

"Well, under normal circumstances, you would spend most of your life in the facility." He raised a single finger up. "However, since your addition to Amnesia is to be kept a secret from the general public, that will _not_ be the case for you two." He let his hand fall back down to his side as he continued. "You two will still be able to live your normal lives to a degree, but keep in mind that you will be acting as our…undercover agents…so to speak." This time, 1 waited until he was sure that the two felines had taken all of the info in. Once he was sure that they had, he continued. "Just so you know, because of this circumstance, you will not be receiving the pay that normal members earn. I took a look at the numbers, and you are receiving a small cut of what you would get if you were one of us 12." Erika frowned slightly at this. "As for you, Arata, since you will be the most active out of either of you, you are to have your Memory and Driver on you at all times." 1 pursed his lips a bit, almost as though he was preparing himself for the next statement. "Also…you are to remain within the city…until permitted otherwise…"

At that, the two felines felt their hearts drop. Arata wasn't sure of how to react to this, so he kept his silence. The same held for Erika, though not to the degree that Arata had. 1 sighed a bit to himself before continuing.

"I would like to remind you _both_ …that because of the crimes you have committed, you are being given a rather _generous_ mercy." He folded his arms across his broad chest. "And, as a fair warning, the two of you will be kept under constant surveillance." The two felines shuffled on their feet nervously upon hearing this. And seeing that, Tech couldn't contain herself for any longer. She stepped forward as she spoke up.

"Hey, don't worry you two," she began in a friendly tone, "We just want to make _absolute_ sure that the two of you can be trusted."

"And how long it will take for us to trust you two will _entirely_ depend on your actions," 1 added to which Erika and Arata nodded in understanding. At that, 1 softened up a bit in his tone. "Listen…I _want_ to trust you two. You both seem like very good people…" He pointed to each of them. "However, the crimes you have committed, and the secrecy you two have had greatly worries me." Again, the two felines nodded in response.

"Well…don't worry," Arata finally decided to speak up, "One way or another, we'll convince you that you can trust us." 1 smiled and nodded.

"I look forward to it then." Arata couldn't help but smile back. He opened his mouth to speak, but 1 continued on. "One more thing; crime doesn't stop, and neither does Amnesia. So technically, both of you will be on the job at all times until retirement." He smirked slightly. "Thought…looking at it, it seems that it won't be a problem for you two anyways." Hearing this, the two of them couldn't help but laugh. Erika planted a paw on his shoulder.

"Well, I know that it definitely won't be a problem for _Arata_. That's for sure." And at that, all four of them began to laugh.

"Alright, well," said 1, "I am pretty much done here. I have some things to attend to, so Tech, if you could hand them their entry cards and fill them in on everything else they need to know, then that'd be great." Tech nodded in understanding as the commander dismissed himself. Once he was gone, the vixen turned back to the two of them.

"Now then," she began with a clap of her paws, "Arata, I'll take it that you have already taken a tour of the facility?" Arata nodded in confirmation. "Thought so. So Erika, I'll be giving you one once everything is said and done. But _first_ …" She reached into her coat pocket and slipped out two plastic key cards and badges. She handed them to their respective new owner. "These are your key cards, though you will only really be using them in an emergency. The staff here already knows who the both of you are, and they will usually be the ones to let you guys in." She then pointed to the badges. "As per your badges, those will _also_ only be used in an emergency. Like 1 said earlier, the both of you are our secret additions to the team, and the public is not meant to learn about that. So you may only use them in the case of a catastrophic event, _or_ if you have been specifically instructed to do so for investigations in the case that you are needed." She held a finger up. "So in a nutshell, wait until you have proper authorization to reveal them. You two are our secret agents so to speak, so we should try and keep it that way." Erika smiled at this and Tech took notice. "It seems like _you_ like that idea." The snow leopard laughed and nodded. "Is it everything you ever dreamed of as a kid?"

"It's just cool to know that I _am_ one," Erika answered, making Tech laugh.

"Well," she replied, "just don't go and brag about it." Erika nodded before the three of them broke into laughter. After settling down, Tech turned to Arata. "Okay Arata, we've already settled everything we needed to with you, so you're free to go if you wish." At that, the panther turned to his friend.

"Erika?" he asked, "do you want me to stay and stick with you?" Erika placed a finger on her chin as she thought for a moment.

"…Could you?" she asked a bit reluctantly, "I'd like it if you stuck around for…just a _bit_ longer." Arata nodded in understanding before turning towards Tech.

"I'll hang around here for a bit longer," he explained to her, "as long as it's okay with you?"

"Yeah, no problem," Tech replied before turning the other way, "Come along then, you two. Let's get that tour of yours started."

* * *

"…Yes sir…I understand… Yes, he will be dealt with… I assure you…" The female wolf breathed in deeply as she lowered her phone from her ear and hung up. With a shake of her head, she pocketed the device and walked over to the other room, where her bandaged brother, Daiki, was seated. The wolf was sulking in his seat, arms folded and head turned to the side. His sister didn't say anything, only walking over to a nearby bowl, where several clean rags were set. After picking one out of the bowl, she walked over to Daiki's side and sat down beside him. She reached over with the wet rag and began to dab at his open wounds, making him cringe slightly at her touch.

"Damn that Zero…" he cursed under his breath, mumbling to himself, "I'll make him pay for forcing me to retreat." He clenched his teeth tightly. "And to top things off, the bastard turned himself in." His sister raised one of her ears slightly and raised a brow.

"And how exactly is that a bad thing?" she asked in a flat tone as she continued to clean his wounds. Daiki whipped his head towards her which resulted in several of his aching muscles to flare up in pain. He clenched his eyes closed for a moment as he waited for the pain to subside.

"Because _now_ his Memory will be in more capable hands," he explained, "and now I can't take proper revenge on him for humiliating me…" He clenched a paw into a fist. "And now my superiors are disappointed in me for making _our_ Memories look bad…" His sister huffed slightly.

"I'm not surprised," she commented, "Given how childish you've been acting up until this point, the only thing I'm surprised about is how long it took for that to happen." Daiki growled at her but made no rebuttal. He turned away from her, glaring at the wall for the sake of having something to glare at.

"And what's worse, I wasn't big enough to receive a name from the people…"

"I thought you already gave yourself one." The canine adjusted the rag so that she could dab with a clean spot. "That stupid codename of yours… Crosshair, wasn't it?"

"Well forget that name!" he exclaimed before standing up abruptly. As he did, sharp pains shot up all over his body. He gritted his teeth and waited out the pain before he began to pace the room. "If the people don't give me a name to go by, then they won't remember me as well as they do with that DAMNED ZERO!" He raised a paw up and held up a single finger. "From NOW on, I shall be known…as Kamen Rider Lockon!" His sister rolled her eyes and took hold of his shoulder, guiding him back to his seat and sitting him back down. "No-no-no-no scratch that," he said abruptly, "Instead, I shall be known as Kamen HUNTER." He grinned broadly. "Yes, it makes so much more sense. I don't ride some stupid vehicle, so I don't need some stupid _Rider_ label. I'm going to be _better_ than a Rider. A Kamen _Hunter_! Kamen Hunter Lockon!" His sister couldn't help but chuckle. Despite him being a constant irritation to her, the way he acted so childishly was still rather amusing to her. With a bit of a sigh, she began to tend to the wounds Daiki had re-opened. "Hey, Mira," Daiki called out, catching his sister off guard. It was so rare that he ever called her by her actual name. He was so caught up with his stupid codenames that it seemed he would never use it again. "The completed Dopant Memories," he went on, "they're supposed to be arriving today, correct?" It took a moment before Mira actually responded.

"Y…yes Daiki," she confirmed with a nod, "they should be dropped off in any moment now."

"Good," Daiki said with a satisfied nod, "because I want to get back at Zero. Somehow…" He placed a finger to his chin. "Hell, even the replacement Zero will suffice. I just want to get back at him…" He clenched his other paw into a tight fist. He grinned widely. "And I know _just_ the Memory to do it with…"

Mira payed no mind to his statement and continued to treat his wounds. "I take it you will be taking action again?"

"Oh yes," Daiki confirmed her, "I will not _stop_ until I have proven that I am better than him." He glanced over to the table beside him and snatched the Trigger Memory resting atop it. He clutched it tightly and stared at it intensely. _I have worked too hard to give up the respectable spot I am in now,_ he growled to himself, _and I am sure as hell not going to be taken down now. Now when I am so close to being at the top._ He loosened his grip on his Memory and looked out the window. _I'm going to make myself_ the _most important person in the world and make my life matter to everyone else. And I'm_ not _just going to let some rival group take that spot away from me… Not by a longshot…_ He clicked the button at the front.

TRIGGER!

 _I'm going to make it to the top…no matter the cost…_

* * *

After a couple of days, Erika and Arata fully adjusted to their new life as undercover agents. It wasn't long before they had been allowed back into their shop, where they were currently hanging out. When Dave and Vince questioned Erika's sudden dismissal from the hospital, the two felines explained that her recovery had went far better than expected which led to her early dismissal. Thankfully, the two of them had bought their story, making things all the easier to transition into. Today, things were as they usually were. Dave and Vince were playing their game on the shop's TV screen whilst Erika and Arata were at their desks. The only thing that was _really_ different today was the fact that placed upon Erika's desk was a sizable, un-cut watermelon, much to Arata's chagrin. Said feline was keeping his eyes fixated to his computer screen as a way to try and ignore the dodge-ball-sized fruit.

"So Arata," Erika chimed happily, "You think you can check if this watermelon is ripe? I wouldn't wanna give you guys some rotten, old one after all." Arata growled slightly, making Erika chuckle. "Aw come on. I'm not gonna throw the thing at ya. You're just gonna pick it up and knock on it."

"W-well why can't you do it?" Arata snapped, lowering his ears, "Like, what difference will it make?" Erika smiled and tilted her head slightly.

"Come on now. We _all_ know that you still haven't gotten over that phobia of yours." At that, the two gamers off to the side began to snicker. Arata just growled lowly and continued to stare at his screen.

"I'm surprised that you still haven't gotten over that," Dave commented, "I mean, don't phobias eventually go away over time?"

"N-not even!" Arata answered in an exasperated manner, "They can just be worked with to not have such an impact on the person with one."

"What even _is_ your phobia named?" said Vince, "Like…that's a _really_ specific fear." Arata groaned to himself lowly.

"W…well," he began, twiddling his thumbs from beneath his desk, "sf…sfairesphobia is a fear of balls…but I…I don't think there's a name for a fear of dodgeballs…" Arata growled as he heard some snickers escape from his friends' muzzles.

"You are one _weird_ cat, Arata," Dave commented, earning himself a dirty glare from Arata.

"Eh, he could be weirder," said Erika, "I mean sure, he has a pet beetle, he doesn't like silence, but doesn't like loud environments either… And he also makes these weird sounds whenever he—" Her sentence was cut off as her cellphone began to ring. Slipping it out of her pocket, she excused herself as she went into her office and checked the caller ID. She blinked in surprise seeing that it was Tech. With a bit of a shrug, she answered the call and lifted the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hello Erika," said Tech,

"Hi Tech," replied Erika.

"I just want to talk a bit about the data you've gathered on Memories," Tech explained, "Is now not a good time?"

"No, it's fine."

"Are you in a private area?" Erika looked around at that.

"Well…I'm in my office," she answered as she closed the door, "Is that private enough for ya?"

"It'll do," Tech replied, "Just as long as no one can hear you." Erika walked over to her desk and sat down with a sigh. "You see, I came across the blueprints you made on that…double sided Memory…" Erika's ears perked slightly.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that actually." She swished her tail slightly as she talked. "I ended up scrapping the idea since the Memory was left so weak with that design."

"Yup, I see that," said Tech, "I saw that written on the notes you put down. But I think I can find a way to fix that problem." With wide eyes, Erika stood from her seat.

"What? Really?"

"Mhm," Tech answered, "Would you like to come by the lab so we can talk in a bit more detail?"

"S-sure," Erika replied with a happy laugh, "but, what would a Memory like that be used for exactly?"

"Well we won't know until we've got it in our paws." The two females laughed at that.

"Alright then, I'll be right over."

"See ya then," Tech said before she hung up. With a happy sigh, Erika walked out of her office and looked over to Arata.

"Hey Arata," she called out to him, catching his attention, "you think you can drop me off at the _coffee place_?" The panther immediately caught on to her code word and nodded in understanding. He stood up from his seat and turned towards the two gamers.

"Hey uh, can you guys watch the shop for a couple minutes?" he asked them, "I'm just gonna drop Erika off somewhere. I'll be back soon."

"You know I can drive her there," said David, whose eyes were still glued to the screen.

"Oh no thanks Dave," Erika replied with a shake of her head, "You two just enjoy your game." Dave merely shrugged in response.

"I'm gonna go get my bike started," Arata said to the snow leopard as he walked out the door.

"Just call Arata if any customers come in, alright?" Erika instructed the two of them, "And try to help them out until Arata comes back. _Without_ touching anything."

"Got it," Dave and Vince said in unison as Erika walked out the door. Once she was out, she hopped on behind Arata, and the two of them drove off. It only took a couple of minutes before they arrived at the Amnesia facility. Arata drove up to the front and stopped, allowing Erika to dismount.

"Do you want me to come along with you?" Arata asked, to which Erika shook her head.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine on my own." Arata nodded and gestured to her with two fingers in a wave before revving up his bike and driving away. With a flick of her tail, Erika walked over to the entryway of the building. Once she was at the door, she looked up at the camera and waved. After a few seconds, a low beep sounded out and the door began to open up on its own. The leopardess whistled to herself as she walked through. Not wasting any time, she made her way over to the lab, where upon arrival she saw that Tech was already there waiting for her.

"Hey, hey, snowflake," the vixen said with a sly wave. Erika rolled her eyes playfully.

"Hey there doctor scientist," she snapped back as she walked over to the table alongside her, "So do you really think you can fix that power deficiency problem?"

"I _think_ so," Tech replied and glanced back at the blueprints spread across the table. She then reached over and slid another set of blueprints over next to the original. She pointed at it with a finger. "This is the modified design I drew up after finding your print." Erika inched closer and looked over the print with interest. Comparing the two designs, she saw that Tech's design had added a large, cylinder like attachment that stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn't add a lot of length to the overall design, but the width of the protrusion was definitely larger, almost soup can sized. Her eyebrows raised as she grew increasingly impressed.

"Wow, not bad," she commented, "How long did it take you exactly to come up with this?"

"I'll admit, it took a lot longer than it usually takes me to design things."

"And how long does it usually take you to design stuff?"

Tech shrugged. "About three days, give or take." Erika turned to her with shock written all over her face. Seeing this, Tech laughed. "As for this little predicament, it took around five days or so to design." She looked back at the blueprint as she went on. "Due to the way this Memory works, I had to make the system a lot more complex. I had to make sure that both sides of it could be maintained, whilst also preventing a side from overpowering the other." She smiled and looked over to Erika. "Regardless, it's more or less complete."

Erika couldn't help but smile as well. She slid the print closer to her again and looked at it closely. "So out of curiosity, what do you think a Memory like this could be used for?" At that, Tech placed a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"Well, like I said before, we won't know until we actually have the thing… I don't think it'll be of any use with our current equipment…and the added segment on the Memory prevents it from use in the Lost Drivers…" Her ears flattened against her head as she sorted through her thoughts. "So…maybe it's possible to create a device… _specifically_ for the double sided Memory." She smiled and looked over to Erika. "Possibly…a new Driver?"

That got Erika excited.

She squealed to herself and hopped a tiny bit in place. Tech chuckled at seeing this before going on. "It'll definitely take a _lot_ longer to design one for that Memory though, and I have no clue how long it will take for either of the devices to be completed…"

Erika's ears perked. "Oh, I actually already have the original double sided Memory." Tech perked up in surprise, causing the snow leopard to tilt her head in confusion. "You didn't see it in the batch? Oh wait, I guess that's not much of a surprise. It didn't exactly stand out in there, and it's fairly empty in terms of its power." She shrugged a bit before walking over to the other table. Sliding the glass box of Memories over to herself, she fished through the various devices before picking out the alleged Memory. She walked back over to Tech's side before presenting it to her. She mouthed a silent "wow" as she took it in her paws and inspected it. "Funny thing is that it was actually a mutation that caused the Memory to turn out like this, which is probably the only reason I ever came up with the idea of going through with it." She frowned a bit and placed a finger on her chin. "The problem is that the two properties stored in that thing cancel each other out, which is why it's so weak now."

A wide smile spread across Tech's muzzle. "…So is it okay if I try my design out then?"

Erika laughed and nodded. "By all means, go ahead."

Tech pumped her fist enthusiastically. "Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to complete it within several days."

"Heh, I look forward to its completion," Erika said before turning around and grabbing a stool to sit on. Tech, however, remained standing.

"Hmmm," said the vixen, "I guess that means I should start working on designing the Driver as well…" She turned to Erika. "You think you can help me out with that?"

Again, Erika smiled. "Yeah, sounds like an interesting thing to work on." Tech mirrored her smile and enthusiasm. Erika chuckled. "Look at us bein' Memory buddies."

Tech couldn't help but laugh at that. "I suppose you're right in that regard" Just as the words left her lips, a loud siren sounded out through the facility that made the two females jerk in surprise. Immediately understanding what was going on, Tech cursed under her breath and placed the faulty Memory onto the table. "Erika!" shouted Tech as she made her way out of the lab and towards the observation room, "call Arata and make sure that he's ready. We've got another Dopant attack." Erika nodded and pulled out her phone. She dialed in the panther's number as she followed Tech to the room whilst making sure to not get in the way of all the scrambling furs hurrying to their proper places.

"Arata!" she shouted over the siren once she heard him answer, "you hear the alarm over there, right?!"

"Uhuh," he answered her.

"You all set to go?!"

"Uhhhh," he began hesitantly, "a-about that…"

"A-about tha-What?!" Erika looked at her phone as if the device was faulty. Shaking her head, she held it back up to her ear. "What's wrong?! Did something happen?!"

"I-it's just…" Arata stammered, "I-I just don't have my stuff on me right now."

"WHAT?!" Erika nearly tripped over her own tail. With a frustrated growl, she moved off to the side and allowed all of the furs behind her to move past her. "WHY?!"

"Well I…I'm not at the shop right now."

"Not at th—" She growled again. "Why wouldn't you be in the shop?!"

"W-well after I dropped you off, I stopped by the groceries to pick up some stuff." There was a pause. "…So…I'm locked in at the grocery shop right now…" Erika slapped herself in the face.

"So then…where's your Driver?!"

Again, another pause. "…In my jacket…back at the shop…" Erika slammed her forehead against the nearby wall. With a sigh, she raised her phone back to her ear again.

"Are you trying to get out now?"

"I'm trying," Arata replied, "I'm just looking for a back door or something."

Erika sighed. "Alright, well hurry." At that, she hung up and hurried the rest of the way over to the observation room. Once she was there, it didn't take her long to spot Tech amongst the crowd. She hurried over to her side, walking to the middle of the large room.

"So how long until Arata catches up with everyone?" Tech asked without taking her eyes off of the screen in front of her. Erika hesitated.

"Uhhh…" she began, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly, "I don't think…for a while…" Confused, Tech looked over to her. Her ears flattened as she explained. "Arata doesn't have his Driver on him. And now he's locked in with a whole bunch 'a furs in a grocery shop…" Tech sighed deeply upon hearing this. With a shake of her head, she returned her attention to the screen before her.

"It's fine," she replied, "Our troopers will be the first on scene anyways. He has time to catch up eventually." The snow leopard couldn't help but agree. She turned around and watched several troopers run by as they rushed to their stations. She shook her head again, greatly upset by Arata's mistake. "It's fine, Erika," Tech repeated, almost as though she had heard her thoughts, "I'm not really all that surprised that something like this happened. If anything, I'm more surprised that he left his Driver behind."

"Yeah, whatever," the leopard replied dismissively. She pulled out her phone and dialed Arata's number again. It wasn't long before he answered her call. "Arata, found a way out yet?"

"Not yet," he answered in a hushed voice, "Everyone's being rallied together in a big group, so I'm trying to remain stealthy. I'll call you back as soon as I'm out." Erika nodded without realizing what she was doing before hanging up and pocketing the device. She then turned back to Tech and saw that several screens had been pulled up that were displaying different camera feeds. One displaying the five troopers inside of the chopper, one displaying the outside of the chopper itself, (presumably the camera that would be shown to the public on the news feed, and one inside a large garage where three troopers were mounting their motorcycles. Erika glanced to the side and saw that the four remaining troopers were waiting in the room with them on standby. Erika returned her attention to the screens and watched as the chopper lifted off of the ground and flew off towards where their expected Dopant would be.

"Alright," Tech breathed out calmly, "the moment of truth…" Everyone's eyes were glued to the large screen. It wouldn't be long before they got their first glance at the attacking Dopant. Analysts were at their desks, their paws hovering over their keyboards in preparation of calculations and notes that they would have to make. More and more buildings passed by as the chopper closed in on its target. And as it came over the final building, the sight that everyone was met with left them all in a mix of astonishment and utter confusion. Instead of finding a ravenous monster, the chopper had come across a huge circus-like tent in the middle of the city. All around the observation room, furs were rubbing their eyes to make sure that they were working correctly. Jaws were gaping open, people were stuttering over their words and heads were being shook.

"I…" Tech tried to say, "is…is everyone seeing what I'm seeing? This isn't just some trick by the Dopant?"

"Does Jinsoku even _have_ enough space for a circus tent?!" exclaimed Erika, "How the heck did _that_ get there?!" Clearly, the troopers weren't nearly as shocked as everyone in the observation room because they were already dropping down from the chopper. Each landed heavily on the ground feet first and maintained their balance. They all drew out their magnums from their belts and brought them up, carefully analyzing the area. Methodically, they approached the large tent's entrance, which was wide open in an almost inviting way. As the lead trooper closed in, she held an arm out to signal the others to stop. Once she was sure that everyone had stopped, she took a careful step forward. But once she did, her progress was immediately stopped by an invisible force in front of her. She struggled against it, straining her legs as she pushed against it. Eventually, she gave up and backed away, taking formation with the other troopers.

"Light it up!" she shouted, signaling with her free paw. At that, the troopers took aim and fired upon the tent itself. It was then that the force field around it became more apparent, as it glowed and tremored every time one of their bullets pelted against it. After a few moments of firing, the lead trooper held her paw up, signaling for everyone to cease fire. Eventually the smoke cleared to reveal that not a single hole had been made on the tent. Experimentally, the lead trooper fired a single bullet at the entrance. But as she expected, the bullet popped against the still intact force field. With a shake of her head, she made a signal with her paw, prompting two of her fellow troopers to pull some devices out from their pouches. The other troopers cleared the way for them as they approached the field and knelt down before it.

The two troopers looked to each other and nodded before setting several bombs down and backing away, causing the others to follow suit. Once they were at a safe distance, the two troopers pulled out their own mini-remote and clicked the button. The bombs all went off and created a large explosion. Again, they had to wait for the smoke to clear before they could tell if it had worked. When it did, the lead trooper took aim and fired at the tent again. But unfortunately, both the tent and the field were fully intact. With a slight growl, the lead trooper clicked a button at the side of her helmet. "This is 2 to base. What have you got for us?"

Tech looked over to the analysts at the nearby desks, and they signaled to her with an 'x.' Tech then leaned forward a bit and spoke into her microphone. "Wait for the other three troopers to show up. Then try to use your Maximum Drives on the field. For now, just stand by as we try to analyze the data we've collected."

Erika jerked suddenly as her phone began to vibrate. She quickly drew it out of her pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"Erika, it's me," said Arata, "Listen, I'm out, so I'll be—" The sounds of angry shouts were suddenly heard. But soon afterwards, the sounds were replaced with that of Arata's engine. "I'm heading to the shop now."

"Okay, just be careful," he heard Erika reply before she hung up. Arata gripped the handlebars of his bike tightly as he swerved around the corner and shot towards the shop. Thankfully, the lack of traffic and people allowed him to arrive within a relatively short amount of time. He screeched to a stop and quickly dismounted his bike. He ran up to the shop's door and banged on it repeatedly.

"Dave! Vince! Open up!" he shouted loudly, trying to get their attention. He continued to bang and shout, but the door never opened for him. Growling in frustration, Arata drew his phone out of his helmet. He eagerly browsed through his contacts and selected Dave's number. He pressed the call button brought the device up to his ear, rapidly tapping his foot on the pavement as he waited for Dave to answer. But for whatever reason, he never did. The panther growled again before scrolling to Vince's number and doing the same. But again, no answer came. Growling with a bit more force, he scrolled back to Erika's number, hoping at least _she_ would answer. Thankfully, she did.

"What happened?" she asked, "are you back at the shop?"

"Yeah, I am," he explained, "but for whatever reason, Dave and Vince won't open up for me."

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath, "Ugh, alright, give me a minute." She lowered the phone down slightly and turned to Tech with an irritated sigh. "We've got another problem. Arata's out, but now he can't get _in_ to the place we _want_."

"You've _gotta_ be kidding me," Tech replied. After seeing that Erika _wasn't_ , she raised a paw up to her head and rubbed her temples. "Okay…alright… Erika, did Arata tell you where he left his Driver?"

"He left it at our tech shop," Erika explained, "Our friends are locked in there right now, but for whatever reason, they won't answer."

"Does your shop have an electronic lock though?" Tech asked. Erika nodded in response. "Good, then I can work with that." She then looked to the crowd of furs assembled in the building. She snapped her fingers and caught the attention of several of them. "Hey! Yes you! Take over the observation screens for me." The called fur nodded in understanding and quickly took over. As he walked over to her desk, Tech motioned for Erika to follow her. The two of them quickly made their way to a computer farther off to the side of the room. She took her seat in front of it and quickly got to work. Her paws flew across the keyboard as she typed in various commands and prompts. "Hold your phone to my ear," Tech said without taking her eyes off of her screen, "I need to talk to Arata." With no reason to object, Erika did as she was told. "Arata? Can you hear me? This is Tech."

"Yeah, I can hear you," Arata answered, "What's up?"

"Okay Arata," Tech began, "I need you to follow my instructions _very_ carefully. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good," Tech said with a nod before finishing one final command on her console, "Now Arata, I've just accessed your phone and I'm about to use a password syste—"

"You hacked into my phone?!" shouted Arata, looking at his phone in disbelief.

" _Well_ , I mean if you wanna call it that, then yes. But _that's_ not the point right now, focus. Right now, I need you to access the program I just installed on your phone. With that program, you should be able to unlock the door to the shop remotely by entering a series of codes that I'm going to give you. But you'll have to hang up in order to use it. Understood?"

"…Y…yeah, uh, understood," Arata replied hesitantly.

"Okay good," said Tech, "Just know that right now, your phone won't be able to use any other features besides the call and hack apps, so we can't just text the codes to you. You're gonna have to just memorize them and call back after each code is used." She paused for a moment to type in a few commands on her console. Once she did, a list of different codes showed up on her screen. "Okay, listen closely. I'm giving you the first code now." She leaned in slightly to read the code. "Here it is… Two six five, eight three one four, nine one sixty eight, thirty one hundred." She cleared her throat. "Got it?"

"Uuuuuhhh," he began, "Two six five…eighty three… Bah, could you…repeat it please?" Tech had to restrain herself from sighing.

"Two six five," she repeated, "eight three, one four, ninety one, sixty eight, thirty one hundred… Got it?"

"I…think," answered the panther, "I'll give it a shot." At that, he hung up and looked at his phone. He hit the home button and found the app Tech had allegedly installed. Letting out a big breath, he tapped on it and started the program. Immediately, he saw the screen glitch momentarily, and he was brought up to a command prompt menu similar to one that would be on a desktop. He went over the code in his head, hoping that he had memorized it correctly, and entered it in. Once he tapped enter, he reached out and tried to pull at the door. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge. _Shoot,_ he thought to himself, _I hope I remembered it right…_ Wanting to make sure he didn't type it in wrong, he re-entered the code. After hitting enter again, he pulled at the handle, and the door still didn't open. Growling to himself slightly, he went back to his call app and called Erika's number. It rung only once before he was answered.

"Hello?" said Tech, "did it work?"

"Nope," he answered, "Still didn't open up. But repeat it to me again? I wanna make sure I didn't mess up."

Tech groaned in frustration. Displaying little effort in hiding her frustration, she spoke. "Two six five…eight three…one four…nine one…sixty eight…thirty one hundred…" She heard him click his tongue.

"Sorry, seems I didn't remember it correctly, hold on." He hung up and repeated the code to himself several times. Once he was sure he had it, he opened up the hacking app again and typed it in. After hitting enter, he pulled at the handle and was once again denied entry. With a shake of his head, he quickly scrolled to Erika's number and called again. "Sorry, still didn't work."

"Damn it all!" Tech cursed loudly, "Okay, try this one. Thirty eight five nine one five—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he cut the vixen off, "s-slow down a bit. I can't keep up with you at that speed." Tech didn't even bother with containing a growl there.

"Thirty eight, fifty nine, fifteen, seventy nine, sixty four, eighty two, fifty four, forty," she said in a less than pleasant tone.

"Okay…so…Thirty eight, fifty nine, fifteen…seventy—"

"Screw it!" Tech exclaimed as she stood abruptly from her seat. She turned to the troopers on standby and shouted out. "6! I need you to go to Erika's tech shop and hack the door open for Arata!"

"Understood," the trooper replied with a nod. Tech then rushed off to her lab before returning with a strange looking device in her paw. She ran over to 6 and handed it to her. "Here. This should make things a hell of a lot faster." Wordlessly, 6 took the device from her and hurried out of the room. As she left, Tech got back into her seat and leaned her head into Erika's phone. "Arata, screw the app. I'm sending 6 over to help you get back inside."

"Got it," the panther replied, "I'll just try this last code before she gets here."

"They're in!" Tech heard someone shout out. She snapped her head to their direction and saw that several of the troopers had indeed infiltrated the strange tent. Immediately, her attention was taken away from her console and was directed to the large screen before everyone. As they watched, extra windows appeared on the screen, indicating that the troopers had activated their newly installed video cameras, allowing everyone at the base to see everything that was going on with them.

The inside of the tent was dark. Because of this, the three troopers that had managed to get inside went back to back, with each of them turning on their night vision and raising their magnums up. They made careful, slow steps as they progressed further inside. From what they could tell, the place seemed completely empty, save for a couple rows of chairs. Suddenly, bright light flooded the entire area, leaving the troopers temporarily blinded. After their eyes had adjusted and their night vision had been turned off, they were shocked to see that the entire place was flooded with people. The three of them now stood in the middle of the area, which now appeared far more circus like in appearance, complete with the numerous bleachers surrounding them. Looking closer though, they could see that these people were far from normal. Every single one of them had a large, boxy TV as a head with each one showing various emoticons. The crowd was roaring with enthusiasm, clapping with vigor and cheering incessantly. Immediately the three troopers took formation again and raised their magnums up.

"Wwwwwwwwelcome one and all!" spoke a voice from the speakers of the tent, "Thank you to everyone that's been waiting. But the wait is over, and now…it's SHOWTIME!" The crowd went wild with built up enthusiasm. The lights went dark again, only for spotlights to focus on the troopers. Before any of them could re-activate their night vision, another set of spotlights sparked to life and converged upon another individual in the area. This one also had a TV for ahead, however he was dressed differently from the other TV headed people. He donned a bright red suit with wacky patterns printed all over. His bow tie was comically large, but it did little to hide his large, TV screen of a face. It buzzed with static until a vague image of a face took shape amongst the static. His antennae were bent in different directions, much like in the olden days when that was necessary to do.

"And welcome of course," he greeted them, raising one hand to point at them, and another to raise a microphone to his 'mouth,' "to our fabulous new contestants!" The crowd roared louder as they applauded the troopers. Then, the flaps of the tent fell closed behind them with a loud clap. The trooper facing it tried to blast it back open, but it seemed that the same barrier that protected the outside of the tent was inside of it as well.

"They're trapped in," said Tech, before she rushed over to the nearest microphone, "5, 7-10, whatever 2-4 did to get in there, you do the same, and get them out of—" Tech caught her breath as their live feed from the troopers was suddenly cut off. Before anyone could check what had went wrong, the screen blinked to life again. However, instead of displaying the footage from the troopers' cameras, footage from _different_ cameras was coming through, showing a close up of the three troopers within the tent huddled up against each other in their formation. All around the observation room, furs were busily typing away at their consoles, trying to figure out the source of the problem.

"Nothing's working!" shouted one of them, "We can't get our video feed to work. Whoever's over there is overpowering our signal with their broadcast!"

"Dammit!" Tech cursed loudly. "Do whatever you can to get back the signal from the troopers!"

"Tech!" shouted another, "It seems the broadcast is going everywhere in Jinsoku. It's even overpowering the news broadcast!"

"What?!" she shouted ecstatically, "How the hell?! Argh, get to work on finding out what's causing these interferences!"

"Yes ma'am!" the fur shouted back before returning his attention to his personal screen. Suddenly, Tech felt a tap at her shoulder. She turned and saw that Erika was pointing to her phone. Nodding in understanding, she leaned in as Erika raised it to her ear.

"It's me again," said Arata, "The new code still didn't work."

"That's fine," growled Tech, "it doesn't matter. Just wait for 6 to get there and she'll hack the door for you. Something important is going on right now, and I need to keep an eye on everything right now." Her attention was quickly taken away from the call as she heard startled shouts from the broadcast taking over their feed. She quickly turned to look and caught a glimpse of the three troopers hitting the ground hard. As they collapsed, gasps sounded out throughout the observation room.

"Now!" the 'host' Dopant to the camera, "Let's have a huge round of applause for our very special guest. The sharp shooting gunslinger of the east. The sniper in the shadows. The one. The _only_. Kamen _Hunter_ Lockon!" Another spotlight suddenly burst to life and wheeled around to shine on a particularly dark section of the tent, illuminating it and revealing the blue armored wolf Daiki seated on a look-out chair. The crowd cheered as he waved to them and the camera.

Back at the base, people were astounded by what they saw. "Kamen Hunter?!" said one of the furs. "Lockon?" said another. Tech merely growled lowly, her paws clenching up into fists.

"Today's show is sponsored in big part by The Earth's Tree," the Dopant continued before the screen cut off to display a logo showing a globe with a large tree poking out at the top. It lasted for only a minute before it returned to the scene within the tent. And as it did, one of the troopers fired off his magnum and shot at Lockon. However, Lockon quickly reacted, drawing out one of his pistols and counter shooting the blast with a light orb. But it didn't dissuade the troopers at all. Instead, they followed the lead of the first one and fired at the wolf as well. However, none of their attacks managed to get through the numerous orbs of light he kept firing off. Confident that he would be fine, Daiki drew out his other pistol and pressed on the panel at the back of the handle.

HEAT: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

He pulled the trigger, and a massive fireball rocketed towards the troopers, overpowering their shots and crashing into the three of them. They cried out as they were blown into the air. They fell back down, but instead of landing on the ground, they found themselves landing perfectly on a chair for each of them. Before they could get up however, several chains snaked out from seemingly nowhere and clamped onto their heels and wrists, binding them to the chairs themselves. As they struggled to free themselves, several glass walls slowly rose from the ground and boxed them in. They continued to struggle, shouting loudly as they did so, but despite their efforts they were stuck.

"Now then!" continued the Dopant, "With our contestants properly in place, and our special guest sitting comfortably from his lookout, all we're missing now is the star of the show!" The crowd roared with enthusiasm, and the mouth on the face on the host's screen smiled. He raised his hand and pointed it directly at the camera. "We're waiting for _you_! Kamen Rider Zero!"


	3. Chapter 2: Before they Break

Last time on Kamen Rider Zero:

Three Amnesia troopers were trapped within the strange circus-like tent that appeared in the middle of Jinsoku city. To make matters worse, all video broadcasting systems have been taken over by a Dopant, and is now using it as a game show of sorts. Eager to help but without his Driver, Arata rushes back to the tech shop to get it back.

* * *

Kamen Rider Zero Arc 2

CH 2: _B_ efore they _B_ reak

Arata shuffled on his feet nervously, glancing back and forth between his phone, and the still locked door to the tech shop. He cringed slightly before raising the phone back to his ear. "Hello?" he asked urgently, "What's going on there? You guys still there?" His attention was suddenly taken away from the call as he took notice of the sound of a fast approaching engine. He turned to look and saw one of Amnesia's troopers racing towards his location. It wasn't long before the trooper screeched to a halt just in front of him.

"Stand back," sounded the voice of 6. Arata lowered his phone and did as he was instructed. Once he was away from the door, 6 dismounted her bike and pulled out a strange device strapped to her belt. She walked up to the door and turned the device on. A shrill sound was emitted by it as it did its work on the door. A few seconds passed before a soft click sounded out from the door. The trooper swiftly swung the door open and motioned for him to get in.

"Thanks!" he said to her before rushing into the building, with her following close behind. As they stepped inside, the startled cries of Vince and Dave filled the room.

"What the hell is going on?!" cried Dave as Arata dashed over to his chair and grabbed his jacket.

"DIIUUUU-Important stuff!" Arata shouted back as he slipped his jacket on, "But what the hell to _you_ guys! I was bangin on the door and none of you answered!"

"Well we thought you were a friggin Dopant !" Vince snapped.

"And your phones?!"

"Off!" shouted the two of them, making Arata exclaim in confusion and irritation. Rather immediately, the group blew up into a babbling mess. But 6's patience was running dry, so she rushed over to his side and firmly planted a paw on his shoulder.

"Hey!" she shouted, "We don't have time for this. We've gotta get going!"

"R-right, sorry," Arata replied with a slight bow before starting for the door.

"Hey-hey wait!" shouted Dave, "Where the hell are you going?!"

"DUUUUUU-I gotta-UUUUU-business meeting-UUUUU-emergency stuff-UUUU—"

6 growled and placed her paw to his muzzle before shoving him out the door. "We don't have time to explain. Just stay inside." At that, she rushed out the door as well.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Dave shouted before the door was firmly shut. 6 once again pulled out the strange hacking device and re-locked the door with it. Suddenly, she heard a low ring come from within her helmet. She raised her paw to the side of it and pressed a button.

"6, come in," came the voice of Tech, "Are you there?"

"6 here," the trooper answered her, "What's the situation?"

"Check your video feed now," instructed Tech, "though I doubt you're gonna like it…" The trooper hesitated only slightly before she raised her other paw up to reach for a dial on her helmet. She clicked a button at the top of it before turning it. Soon enough, a small window popped up from within her helmet. She grunted in surprise to what she saw before she tapped Arata's shoulder.

"Hey, pull up the news feed," she instructed him.

"But my phone can't do…oh," he stopped himself, seeing that the hacking app that Tech had installed had gone away, granting him access to the rest of his apps again. He nodded and pulled up the emergency feed. However, rather than being greeted with the usual news broadcast that came with every lockdown, Arata was greeted with a different sight.

"And we're _back_ from our short commercial break!" said the Broadcast Dopant, moving around animatedly before stopping to rest on his cane, "Now, it's almost time for the main event. _However,_ we're missing our very special guest star…" The screen cut away to an image of Zero, making Arata's heart pound. "KAMEN RIDER ZERO!" shouted the 'host' after the image had blinked away, "it's time for you to come on down for the show! We can't start without ya, so try not to take too long!" He laughed and twirled around with the camera following him. Once he stopped, he pointed behind him with his cane. "Besides, you wouldn't want to keep your team waiting. They _need_ you after all!" Arata caught his breath as the screen showed the three troopers, all of them still chained to their chairs inside a huge glass box. He heard 6 growl next to him as they continued watching. Suddenly, Broadcast stepped into the frame. "So come on down! We'll be waitin for ya! In the meantime, let's have our guest performers hit things off with their latest single!"

The camera swept around and focused on a stage where several TV headed people, much like Broadcast and his 'audience' had, as they began to play an unnamed tune. But neither Arata nor 6 bothered to stick around for any longer. They both turned away in disgust and shut off their feed. "You better get going," said 6, "I doubt that they'll be willing to wait for very long. Though it somehow worries me more that they may be willing to wait for a long time…" Arata nodded in understanding and slipped his Driver out of his jacket. Just as he was about to put his phone away, it began to ring. He answered the call and raised the phone back up to his ear.

"Arata, did you see that?" came Erika's voice.

"Yeah, I did," he answered her, "I'm gonna prep myself now." He pocketed his phone and slapped the Driver onto his waist, causing the belt to snake around his form and snag onto him. Once it was on, he slipped out his Memory and slotted it in. Raising his right arm across his chest, he thrust out with his left paw and slanted the Driver.

FREEZE!

A sudden blizzard swept around his form as his body began to change. He closed his eyes as a familiar chill washed over him. As soon as he felt his cloak envelop him, he whipped out his arm and canceled out the wind, knowing full well that the transformation was complete. 6 chuffed and crossed her arms. "Look at you actin all cool and such," she commented.

Arata made the closest motion he could to rolling his eyes. "Come on. Erika's the one that makes the cheesy jokes around here, not you."

" _Heeeeeeeeeeeeey_ ," Arata heard Erika's voice say, startling him.

"What the?" he exclaimed, looking around, "E-Erika, is that you?"

"Yes that's her," Tech's voice cut in, "I modified your Driver when you were being initiated into the group to link up to your phone since we can't link you to our intercoms." Arata shook his head slightly.

"Look, I don't need any additional ringing in my ears," he said to her, "I already get that enough as it is."

"Hey," 6 cut in, "I know you're busy talking to your girlfriend and such, but we don't have much time to lose."

"What the?! She's NOT my…ugh whatever," he replied with a dismissive wave of his paw. He turned away and mounted his bike, which swirled with an icy wind and began to change as soon as he got on. The two of them revved their bikes before finally shooting off to catch up with everyone else.

Meanwhile, said troopers were busy trying to figure out how they had initially gotten the field to open up. They had already used up several remote bombs and blasted the field with multiple Maximum Drives. But still, the field remained firm. And as all hope seemed lost on trying to get in, they caught the sounds of twin engines coming their way. They all turned to see that 6 and Zero were driving up to everyone. After screeching to a halt, they two furs dismounted their bikes.

"Good to see you 6," said one of the troopers, with many others following suit. There were others that greeted Arata, but not many. And most of the few that did weren't exactly doing so in a very pleasant tone. If anything, many were bitter about his presence here. Because of this, he just stood there in awkward silence as greetings were exchanged.

"Well?" said one of the troopers, "What are you waiting for? Get in there already." Arata hesitated, looking back and forth between the trooper and the tent. Suddenly, he felt a paw on his shoulder. He turned to see that it was 6's.

"He's right," she said to him, "You ought 'a go. 2, 3 and 4 really need your help right now." It took a moment before Arata managed a nod in response. Taking in a deep breath, he walked forward and made his way over to the entrance with the troopers moving aside to allow him access. He stopped just in front of the tent, just barely making out the field in front of him. Letting out his held breath, he took another step forward and passed right through. Once he did, he was sucked right in which caused him to stumble into the tent. The troopers closest to him tried to follow him in, only to bounce off of the field. One of them, frustrated that they still couldn't get in, banged his fist against the field. "Forget it," said 6 solemnly, "just let it go. He's on his own now…"

* * *

Arata stumbled forward as he tried to regain his balance. As he less than gracefully made his way in, a spotlight shined on him, and the crowd of TV faced people applauded for him and cheered for him. Once he finally regained his footing, Arata looked around in confusion. But as soon as he caught a glimpse of the trapped troopers off to the side of the stage, he broke into a run towards them. However, the Dopant Broadcast quickly stepped in front of him soon after his foot had first hit the stage.

"Welcome! Welcome!" he greeted Arata enthusiastically, "Now that you're here, we can finally start the game!"

"Game?!" Arata exclaimed, "You're kidding me, right?!"

"Ohoho no I am _not_ ," Broadcast answered him with a playful poke to his chest with his cane, "And _you_ sir are our player for the day. Because _we're_ gonna play…" He whirled around to face the camera and pointed his cane at it. "Save _Your_ Butt, Save Theirs!" An appropriate title card came up on the camera feed, and the crowd went wild. The title faded, the camera zoomed, and Broadcast whirled back around to face Arata. "The rules of the game are fairly simple. You're going to be playing through a series of mini games. And for every game you successfully complete, one of our _volunteer guests_ will be let out of the Happy Box!" The crowd began to boo at that, making Arata feel tense and uneasy.

"Sounds…easy enough I guess…" he muttered under his breath.

" _But_ ," Broadcast went on, "For every time you _lose_ a game…" He paused for a moment and turned towards where the troopers resided. A sudden bright light shined out from their glass box, and the sounds of electrical pops and screaming mingled with the sounds of the crowd. The light faded, and the troopers noticeably slumped in their seats in exhaustion. Arata clenched a fist, taking a step forward, only for the Dopant to once again get in his way. "Our volunteers will receive a _fun_ little jolt, which _increases_ in scale with every game lost."

Arata growled loudly, his fist practically shaking. "Well you know what?" His paw shot forward and he moved his Memory from the belt to the slot at his side, "SCREW THE RULES! I'VE GOT POWER!"

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

His body burst into a raging blizzard, blowing Broadcast back suddenly. The winds blew many in the crowd out of their seats, and Lockon had to grip his seat so as to not fall to the ground below. The blizzard came to a sudden halt and clustered into a focused point, forming Arata's body. He slapped the button at his side and kicked out his foot, causing it to glow and his body to propel forward towards the glass box housing the troopers. His foot slammed into the glass, making the entire tent tremor. However, instead of feeling the glass shatter beneath his foot, he felt as though his _leg_ had been shattered instead. He let out a pained cry and toppled to the ground with a loud thud. He cried out again and again, hugging his injured leg to his chest protectively and rocking from side to side. He glanced up, seeing that his attack had done little more than smudge the glass at his point of impact.

"Wh…why?" he groaned, dazed with pain and confusion. All around him, he heard the TV faced crowd roar with laughter. Hazily, he clawed to his feet, making sure to lean on his good leg. Just in front of him, Broadcast was standing there with his arms crossed, and a broad grin spread across his screen face.

"Ohohoh, nice try there, bucko," he said with a playful poke to Arata's shoulder with his cane, "but we knew a little rebel like you would try something funny. That's why we made sure to reinforce that case with our super strong and in _credibly_ reliable cannon proof, _and_ Maximum Drive proof, glass box! SponsoredbyTheEarth'sTree." He quickly added the last part, leaning slightly towards the nearest camera. "But seeing as you tried anyways, I believe it's _only fair_ that your little friends receive…wait for it…PUNISHMENT!"

"N-NO!" Arata cried out. However, his screams went ignored as a bright light once again filled the box. The troopers screams resounded from it again as they were mercilessly electrocuted. No matter how loud Arata screamed for them to stop, it just kept going. It seemed as though it would never end, but thankfully it did. However, once Arata caught a glimpse of the troopers, he knew that they wouldn't be able to take a lot of that.

" _Sooooo_ ," said Broadcast, "rrrrrready to play the game?" Arata growled, clenching his fist tightly.

"Dammit, FINE! I'll play your stupid game!"

"Excellent!" Broadcast clapped, "But…before we begin…" Without warning, a small gray blur shot past Arata's face. Before he could react, the blur landed on top of the slot his Memory resided in with a loud plop. Arata quickly reached out and try to pry the blob of what appeared to be gray clay off, but it quickly hardened into a thick shell. Broadcast chuckled gleefully. "We can't have you misbehaving any more than you already have. It's a family show after all, and we don't want to teach the kids the wrong message, now do we?" He laughed and skipped away whimsically. Arata growled; this meant no Maximum Drives from him. His Memory was stuck in its slot until who knew when…

He limped along and followed Broadcast as he guided him to center stage. All around, the crowd roared and cheered, clapping incessantly and snapping pictures with their phones. Arata glanced up, locking gazes with Lockon. The blue armored shooter simply stared back at him, waving at him mockingly from his lookout.

"ALRIGHT!" boomed Broadcast, snatching Arata's attention away from Lockon, "It's time to start the first game of the day!" Then, out of nowhere, a large booth popped up just in front of Arata. Soon afterwards, a chair shot up from underneath him, and he was forced to sit down. Once he was seated, the booth slid over his legs and trapped him in, leaving Arata only able to move from the waist up. Arata then saw a buzzer emerge from the center of the table just within arm's reach. With everything in place, Broadcast slid over and jumped in front of the camera. "It's time to plaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy QUIZ RUSH!" The crowd roared in approval, and a title card came up on the video feed. Once it vanished, Broadcast whirled around and leaned against Arata's booth. "Now, the rules are fairly simple. For this game, you are going to be answering a series of questions. For every answer you get _right_ , one of your little friends will be set free." This caught Arata off guard. " _And_ ," Broadcast went on, "for every question you get _wrong_ , your friends will be receiving a _fun_ little jolt." He began to laugh at that, which was echoed by the crowd. "You technically have a chance to end the game _early_ here! So let's hope that little noggin of yours is stocked up on some trivia, huh?"

 _So just gotta answer three questions correctly then?_ he thought to himself, _That isn't too bad I guess…_

"ALRIGHTY, ALRIGHTY!" shouted Broadcast, "LEEEEET'S BEGIN THE GAME ALSO-YOU-HAVE-EXACTLY-TWO-SECONDS-TO-ANSWER-EVERY-QUESTION-READY-GO!"

"Wait what?!"

"Question nuuuuumber one!" Broadcast cut him off, "What is the first word spoken in the play 'Death of a Salesman?!'"

"DUH-Uhhhh, I uh—" A loud buzz sounded out.

"EEEEEEEEH! Wrong. The answer was 'Willy!'" A loud zap sounded out, taking Arata's attention away from the Dopant back to the glass box housing the troopers. He watched in horror as their muscles jerked around from the electrocution. It abruptly came to an end, and the troopers all groaned. "Queeeeeeeeeeeeeestion number TWO!" Broadcast went on, forcing Arata's attention back to him, " _Whhhhhhhat_ is the likelihood of being struck by lightning?"

"Uhh, one in…uhhh—" Again, a loud buzz sounded out.

"EEEEEEEH! Wrong. The correct answer is 1 in 700000." A loud zap followed by cries of agony sounded out from the box, causing Arata's attention to once again shift to the glass box. The troopers visibly struggled against their restraints, but to no avail. And as soon as the electrocutions began, they came to an abrupt end. "Question number THREE!" Arata's attention shot back to Broadcast. " _Who_ was the last person in the stadium that went to the bathroom?"

"Wh-what the?! HOW WOULD I EVEN—"

"EEEEEEEH! Wrong! The answer is Bill!" He suddenly thrust his arm out, pointing to an audience member with a comically sized name tag with the name 'Bill' on it. Bill waved back, and the audience members roared with laughter. Another flash went off, followed by the cries of agony from the troopers. Arata kept his gaze on Broadcast, though had a hard time resisting the urge to turn. "Question nuuuumber four!" Broadcast spun in place before pointing at Arata. " _Why_ did the chicken cross the road?"

Arata slammed his paw on the buzzer as quickly as he could. "To get to the other side!"

"EEEEEEEH! Wrong!" Broadcast replied, making Arata exclaim in confusion and anger. "The _correct_ answer was…" he stopped to clear his throat, "'…to help me create this trick question!'" The audience broke into laughter, soon joined by Broadcast himself. As another flash went off, Arata growled in anger and struggled hard against his restraints. "Queeeeeeeestion number _five_! What letter do you end up on after going through the entire alphabet _fifty six times_?"

"What? I uhhhhh—"

"EEEEEEEH! Wrong! The correct answer was 'D!'" Again, another flash, and Arata's anger continued to build up. "Question number _six_!" He spun around before walking in place. "On average, how many steps does a person take per day?"

Arata slapped the buzzer. "Uhh—eight thousand!"

"EEEEEEH! Wrong!" Broadcast crossed his arms in a big 'X.' "The correct answer was _ten_ thousand. Nice try though~" The audience laughed again, and another flash went off. "Qu _estion_ number seven!" He spun around again. "A or B?"

Though confused, Arata slapped the buzzer. "Umm, A?"

"EEEEEEEEEH!" Broadcast spun around again and pointed his cane at him, "The correct answer was 'C.'" Another flash, and Broadcast kept going. "Question number _eight_! If a _mirror_ is looking through another mirror, then _who did it_?" Arata held his paw over the buzzer, but couldn't come up with an answer for the life of him. "'EEEEEEEH! It was the ex-wife." The audience laughed again, and another flash went off.

"This is so STUPI—"

"QUESTION NUMBER NINE!" Broadcast cut him off, "How many obtuse angles would there be on the 10 of Diamonds card?" Arata slapped the buzzer.

"Uuuuh—10!"

"EEEEEEEEH! Wrong!" Broadcast made another 'X' with his arms. "The correct answer was 20." Another flash, and Broadcast rolled right along. "And question number ten! Why can't Zero answer any of these questions correctly?"

Arata slammed his fist down on the buzzer. "Because all of this is pure BS?!"

"EEEEEEEH! Wrong!" The audience laughed. "It's because this reality TV. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Another flash went off, this one lasting longer than the others, forcing the troopers inside the glass box to endure several more seconds of agony before finally being granted rest. They all slumped in their seats, with smoke visibly rising from their bodies. They all panted weakly, sinking into their seats as they tried to recover. Arata tore his eyes from the sight of them and growled loudly at Broadcast, who simply tsk tsked at him. "That's too bad. You didn't manage to get a _single_ correct answer. You _really_ ought' a brush up on your trivia, because you are _terrible_ at this game." He cackled and skipped away from him all the way to center stage. "But the show _must_ go on, so it's time for the _next event!_ " The booth Arata was trapped in suddenly popped out of existence. The chair he was sitting on immediately followed, and he dropped onto his rear as a result. He snarled and scrambled to his feet in fury, just barely managing to stop himself from straight up rushing the Dopant. But with much effort, he remained where he was. The troopers were still in that maniac's possession, so he had to play by his rules, no matter how much he hated them.

And hate them he did…

Broadcast guided the Rider over to the edge of the circular stage. "The next game _you_ will be playing is _caaaaaallled_ …" Broadcast thrust his cane in the direction of the camera, and a title card popped up on the video feed, "BLIND TRUST!" The crowd once again erupted into a crescendo of cheers. The title card faded, and Broadcast turned back to Arata. "Now _this_ game will involve all _four_ of you. You see, our three brave volunteers have been given control pads in front of their feet. And _with_ those control pads, they will be controlling _you_ to guide you through an obstacle course." He cackled madly and spun around whimsically. "If you manage to make it across, you will be allowed to free _one_ trooper of _your_ choosing!" The crowd booed at that. " _But_ , if you don't make it across in the allotted time we give you, your friends will be receiving, heheheh, you guessed it, a stronger, even FUNNER electrical jolt! ISN'T THAT FUN?!"

Arata almost jumped at the host, but before he could, something shot out and wrapped itself around his eyes, effectively blindfolding him and disorienting him. Just in front of him, he heard what he assumed to be the supposed obstacle course construct itself. He then felt several objects clamp around his wrists and ankles, the force of their impacts making him stumble back slightly. "NOW LET'S GET THE GAME STARTED!" shouted Broadcast, "THREE! TWO! ONE! GOOOOO!" An air horn sounded out, and Arata felt his legs begin to move on their own. Inside the glass box, the troopers were struggling to remain conscious whilst trying to learn the controls at the same time. On top of the fact that it was extremely difficult, none of the troopers knew exactly what body part of Arata they were controlling. This was made evident by the fact that Arata was repeatedly bashing into the wall that he needed to scale.

Thankfully, Arata felt a grip on the wall itself, and he knew what he had to do. He took hold of the opening and began to climb, struggling a bit against the troopers' influence until they saw that he had it handled. Once he was up and he was back on his feet, the troopers took over once again. Thankfully, they had figured out who was controlling his feet this time around, which was a good thing, being that their next obstacle was a bridge. Of course, it wasn't as simple as that, because all around the bridge were different obstacles ready to knock Arata off of the bridge. But no one had time to waste, so Arata was guided forward. At first, they did a good job avoiding the obstacles that they _could_ see, but their luck only lasted for so long. A giant mallet suddenly swung around from behind a wall and bashed Arata off of the bridge. He fell and landed on the ground hard, dazing him upon impact. Hastily, the troopers scrambled with the controls and tried to get Arata back up. But the Rider was in too much pain to move as quickly as he needed to. As a result, the timer hit zero and the buzzer went off.

"Awww, what a shame!" exclaimed Broadcast, "Looks like none of you guys were quick on your feet. _Oh well~_ " He spun around and walked towards Arata as the obstacle course popped out of existence. The clamps and blindfold on Arata quickly followed, and he climbed back up to his feet. "Fair is fair," said Broadcast, "and as promised, your friends get a more POWERFUL punch of a zap!" He pointed to the glass box, cueing for the punishment to begin. Arata watched with anger and regret as electricity once again coursed through the troopers bodies. Once it was over, Arata growled and glared at Broadcast, who merely waggled his finger at him in response. "Now, now, now. No one likes a _sore loser_."

"No one likes a damn cheat either—"

"AND ON TO THE NEXT GAME!" Broadcast cut him off, turning to the camera. He skipped away, just narrowly avoiding a swipe from the Rider. Just as Arata took his first step to chase after the host, the ground tremored below him and he fell down to the ground. The stage itself began to rise in height, and a glass wall connected to the troopers' box began to form around the arena itself. "Our next game won't involve any critical thinking or anything of the sort," said Broadcast, who was taking center stage once more, "because the game you're playing _this time_ is called…" Again, a title screen popped up on the video feed. "…FISTICUFFS!" The crowd cheered their approval as the title card faded away. "For _this_ game, all you have to do is win in a fight with a fighter of my choosing." He planted his cane into the floor and leaned against it. "But don't expect it to be an easy fight. _Many_ of the folks at home know what kind of muscle you're packing, and I'm _not_ talking about your brains. _But it's pretty clear that that's been established, I mean come on~_ " The crowd laughed, and Arata just stood there glaring. "No, for this game, I'm going to be bringing in a special celebrity guest…"

The Dopant reached up and took hold of one on the dials on his face. He turned it gradually, and his face was reduced to nothing but static. As he continued to turn it, a silhouette of a person began to take shape within the screen. Suddenly, the static was cut off, and a title card appeared. A theme song began to play from his speakers, which was echoed by the speakers within the tent. The silhouette became clearer and clearer, and without warning, the silhouette jumped forward and actually hopped out from the Dopant's screen face. The figure stood, revealing himself to be a masked fur dressed in a tight suit of a crimson red color. The fur smirked proudly and took a proud stance. Broadcast reached for his dial and returned his 'face' to normal. "Your opponent will be everyone's _favorite_ Saturday morning superhero, CAPTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGMAAAAAAAAA!" As the crowd cheered, Arata growled and clenched his fist tightly.

"Just a reminder!" shouted Broadcast, who was now inexplicably on the other side of the arena, "if you win, one of your little friends will be set free. But if you _lose_ , well, you remember. After all, you've been losing literally every other game thus far! HAHAHA!" Arata cursed under his breath, clenching his fist tightly. He was not by any means in the condition to fight. He was hurt, fatigued, and his opponent of _course_ was fire based. But he had no other choice… "Three! Two! One!" A bell went off, signaling for the fight to begin. Captain Magma took the initiative, leading with a left hook. Arata acted quickly, hastily parrying his fist away from him. Captain kept the pressure on, following up his hook with one from his right. Arata parried the blow in the same manner. As Captain kept up his assault, Arata remained on the defensive and continued to parry his swings. "Looks like the Captain's leading with a strong offensive!" Broadcast commentated, suddenly sitting in a booth of his own, "He's got Zero on the ropes! All our cold contestant can do is dodge!"

Suddenly, Captain feigned a swing, making Arata open up. Captain smirked before throwing a forward punch that Arata was too slow to react to in time. As a result, the Rider was blown back several steps, leaving himself open for more attacks. Captain cried out as he charged, assaulting Arata with a flurry of fire fueled jabs. Arata cringed as he tried to evade as many as he could and did his best to power through the ones that he couldn't. But it was difficult, as the heat radiating from the Captain's fists were already wearing Arata down. He grunted as he took a hook to his chin and staggered back. But Captain quickly closed the space between them again and swung at him. As expected, Arata wasn't quick enough to react in time. So he took the blow to the side of his head, stumbling backwards in a dazed manner. He wasn't given any time to recover as Captain lunged forward and delivered a powerful fire punch to his chest, sending him tumbling backwards and rolling.

Arata less than gracefully came to a stop and staggered back up. But as soon as he was back up, Captain was upon him. With only a split second to react, Arata reflexively reached for his Maximum Drive slot, only to remember that it, along with his Memory, was covered in the strange hardened shell of clay, rendering them useless. Captain struck him again in the head, making him grunt and fall onto his back. He cringed as he got back up, holding out one paw to find where his sense of balance went, and the other to cushion the aching spot on his head.

 _Wait a sec…_ he thought, rather managed to think, to himself, _what if…_ The Captain suddenly charged again, taking away the remaining time Arata had to think. Deciding to just put his new plan into action, Arata took a defensive stance and waited for the Captain to close in. Once they were within each other's reach, Captain began to let loose another flurry of swings. Arata did his best to avoid as many hits as possible, this time resorting to slight leans to avoid getting hit. Somehow, this proved effective enough to allow Arata enough time to get his bearings.

Suddenly, the Captain threw a hook aiming downwards, his fist burning with a powerful flame. Seeing his chance, Arata angled himself so that the punch was aimed at his clay covered slot. The movement proved effective, and the Captain's fist collided with the clay. Arata grunted as he felt the force of the punch radiate to his hip and he staggered back. And that gave him another idea, one he didn't waste time on thinking about. Exaggerating his stagger, he backed off in a way that appeared as though he was backing up in fear. Thankfully, everyone including the Captain bought the act, and the flaming fighter chased after him. Arata avoided several more swings by stepping out of the way and continuing to back away, trying to lead Captain on. He was aggressive, which meant that it didn't take long before Arata was backed up against the glass wall.

The glass wall connected to the glass box.

Filled with determination, Arata kept up with the Captain's speed, managing to move just out of the way of his punches. As a result, the punches he threw at him instead landed against the glass box. It held strong, but the heat now emanating from it was something that was hard for Arata not to notice. The glass was being heated up, and that was just what he wanted. Keeping true to his original plan as well, Arata made sure to feign several failed blocks and guided Captain's punches to his Drive Slot to heat up the clay as well.

"And Zero takes ANOTHER blow!" shouted Broadcast, who had been commentating on the fight for its entirety, "That's the _fourth_ time in a row that it's happened, and _all_ in the same place! It's ALMOST as though Zero was doing it…intention…ally…" Lockon, still in his lookout, sat up slightly. He could definitely tell that something was off in the way that Arata was moving.

But his movements were sloppy and slowing. Regardless of how determined he was, he was still fatigued and injured. In fact, most of the blows he received weren't taken on purpose. Arata was only so skilled after all. It didn't matter to him though. His plan was still in motion, and he wasn't ready to let it fail just yet. He took blow after blow, fighting off his fleeting consciousness and biding his time for the right opportunity. And his patience awarded him in the form of a wide hook thrown by Captain. Arata acted swiftly, grabbing on to Captain's arm before slamming his fist into his Drive slot. Everyone in the tent gasped in shock as Arata cried out in pain.

"I-I don't believe it folks!" Broadcast exclaimed, "Z-Zero seems to have intentionally taken a shot!" Lockon clutched the rails of his seat tightly; he didn't like where this was going.

Arata counter-punched the Captain in his gut, following up with a forward kick as he staggered back, knocking him farther away. _Thankfully your body's not actually_ made _of magma,_ Arata thought to himself.

"Alright," Captain Magma growled as he stood back up, "It's time I stopped messing around! KaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!" He clenched his fists as a fiery aura swirled around him.

"There it is!" Broadcast exclaimed, "Captain Magma's SIGNATURE attack! The NOVA BURST!" Arata growled loudly and threw his cloak over his body, bracing himself for whatever the hell was going to happen.

"HAAAAAAAAA!" the Captain roared out as an intense fire erupted from his body, bathing the entire area in a white hot flame. Arata was thrown back against the glass wall from the sheer force of it, with its heat threatening to overtake him and knock him out completely. Even the walls themselves glowed from the intense burning. It was an absolute miracle that Arata's body didn't just melt in that instance, but he certainly felt like jelly as he laid on the ground and the flames died out. It was an incredibly uphill battle that Arata fought just to remain conscious, and he wasn't entirely winning it. But he did notice _one_ thing in his dazed state.

The clay covering his Memory had softened.

Captain Magma panted as the attack petered out and ended. He watched Arata's collapsed body intently, wondering if it was over.

"Oh, this may be it folks!" Broadcast exclaimed excitedly, "It doesn't seem like Zero's going to be getting back up. So let's start the countdown!" A digital timer popped up on the video feed. "10! 9! 8! 7!" Slowly, Arata moved his paw closer to his Memory, doing his best to remain inconspicuous in his actions. "6! 5! 4!" Arata carefully peeled the clay off of his belt, freeing the Memory which he gratefully grabbed hold of. "3! 2! 1!"

"ZERO!" Arata shouted out as he unplugged and re-plugged his Memory,

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

Lockon shot up from his seat as Arata's body burst into a raging blizzard, instantly flooding the area with a sudden chill. The blizzard swept and swirled in the arena without end, completely obstructing everyone's view. Broadcast scrambled up and tried to figure out what to do, but the entire arena was completely sealed off. The members of the audience began to panic and run around in confusion. Lockon quickly drew out his twin pistols as he descended from his look out. "No, no, no, No, NO!" he growled. While he couldn't see what was going on inside the arena, he could see what was happening to the _glass_ of the arena. Due to being introduced to such low temperatures almost immediately after being super-heated from Captain Magma's attack, the glass became extremely brittle.

Brittle enough, in fact, to crack.

Eventually, the howling winds were strong enough to bust the walls open, sending shards of shattered glass in every direction. Lockon hastily shielded himself with his arms as the glass shards ricocheted off of his body, producing several sparks. He whipped his arms out to the side, frantically trying to find the box housing the troopers. Suddenly, the blizzard came to a stop, and everyone was allowed to see again. And what Lockon saw made him roar out in anger.

Arata was standing in what was left of the glass box, kneeling down behind one of the chairs the troopers were chained to. Though he still appeared exhausted, he had enough energy in him to grab hold of the chains, which were weakened due to the intense cold, and yanked hard on them. As a result, the chains broke, freeing the troopers from their prisons. "NooOOOO!" Lockon growled before firing off several shots at the group. The troopers all acted quickly, maneuvering out of the way just in time. But Arata wasn't so lucky, as he was too fatigued to react and move away in time. So the shots struck him, and he was blown off of his feet. He grunted as he hit the ground, too weak to get back up.

"4!" shouted the leader of the group, "Go cover Zero! 3, you're with me!" The troopers moved without skipping a beat, with 4 rushing over to Arata's side and dragging him away to a safer part of the tent. The other two troopers, meanwhile, rushed out the middle of the field to confront Lockon and the Dopant, with the former rushing in to meet them. Lockon fired off several Luna orbs at the pair, forcing them to shield themselves with their arms due to their magnums having been taken away from them. The blasts staggered them back, and they came to a halt. "Smoke em!" shouted 2. 3 didn't even waste time with a nod. His paw immediately went down to one of his pockets and he drew out a small orb. He pulled the pin on it and chucked it down at the ground. The orb burst upon impact, filling the entire area with a thick smoke. Lockon growled and lashed his arms out, trying to clear his obstructed vision. But no matter how hard he swiped, more smoke just filled the gap he created. The smoke was so thick that it was close to impossible to see through.

At least for everyone but the troopers.

"Activate your infrared," 2 whispered through the com link. The other troopers followed her order and switched their infrared vision on, allowing them to see through the fog and spot exactly where everyone was. The three troopers all moved slowly and silently, trying their best to disturb as little smoke as possible so as to not give their positions away. Eventually, all three troopers managed to group back up. With everyone back together, 2 motioned with her paws for the two of them to surround Lockon and the Dopant. The other troopers nodded and broke away, circling the two targets before they were surrounded. Suddenly, a loud growl sounded out, followed by several bangs. Just as suddenly as the noises began, several balls of fire shot out in different directions. The troopers acted quickly, evading the blasts whilst managing to keep their movement and level of noise at a minimum. Eventually, one of the balls crashed into Broadcast, who exclaimed in pain and jumped around. As he ran around the arena, 4 quickly moved in and knocked the Dopant off of his feet.

Lockon's gaze immediately shifted to where he had heard Broadcast's body hit the ground.

MAXIMUM DRIVE!

"There!" he exclaimed before taking aim where he had heard the troopers' devices. Suddenly, he was caught in a lock that restricted him from moving. As he struggled, he realized that one of the troopers had snuck up from behind and was now holding him down. He tried to wrench his arms free to aim at the trooper, but the lock was too strong for him to overcome. Lockon looked forward again to see one of the other troopers coming through the smoke and charging at him with a clenched fist emanating with a purple aura. With no time or freedom of movement to evade, Lockon was forced to take a powerful punch to his torso, eliciting a gasp of pain from him as the gathered aura in the trooper's fist was delivered right into him. The force of the blow cracked a small segment of his armor where he had received the punch, revealing just how focused the aura had been.

The last trooper used his Maximum Drive to deliver a firm powered up uppercut to Broadcast, sending him straight into the air before landing hard on the ground several meters away. But the troopers restraining Lockon weren't done yet. After releasing the armored wolf from her lock, 2 spun Lockon around before moving her own Memory into her side slot.

MAXIMUM DRIVE!

Just as Lockon took aim at her, 2 spun around and kicked the aimed pistol right out of his paw. She continued with her spin and delivered a _hard_ powered up hook to the side of his head. The armored shooter flew off to the side and slammed against the railing of the arena, landing next to Broadcast's crumpled body. He growled as he climbed back up to his feet. With the smoke beginning to clear, he could see the three troopers closing in on him. One of them scooped up the pistol that had been knocked out of his paw and aimed it at him. Lockon took aim with his own pistol, frantically going back and forth between which trooper he aimed at.

"It's time you surrendered!" shouted 2. Lockon growled and aimed his pistol at her.

"Sorry," he spat, "but there ain't a chance of that HAPPENING!" He clicked the back panel of his pistol.

HEAT: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

The troopers quickly jumped out of the way before he shot of a huge fireball from his pistol just in front of him. The ball exploded, kicking up another cloud of smoke in the area that once again impeding everyone's vision. With them disoriented, Lockon rushed off to the edge of the tent and slipped through a flap that formed just as he approached it. As soon as he stumbled out, he caught the eyes of several of the troopers outside of the tent. The second he heard one of them shouting, he broke into a run for the other direction. As they chased after him, he exchanged the Memory already inside his pistol for a fresh Luna Memory. He immediately clicked the panel at the back.

LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

He held his trigger down and whirled around, swinging his arm in a wide arc as he fired off a succession of light orbs. The orbs shot forward and zipped towards the troopers, landing on each of them and blowing them off of their feet, thereby allowing Lockon to make his escape.

Back inside the tent, the three troopers had Broadcast backed up against the wall. He made a run for it, but the trooper with Lockon's pistol shot him down before he could get very far. As he groaned lying on the ground, the troopers surrounded him.

"Undo your transformation!" shouted 4, shaking Lockon's pistol for emphasis, "NOW!" Broadcast scrambled onto his back and stammered.

"Uhhh-uhhh-uhhh," he franticly looked around the area, finding that he had no escape route of which to speak, "w-w-w-WE'LL BE BACK AFTER THESE COMMERCIAL MESSAGES!" His body then went limp, and his static face was cut off, replaced by a commercial for an obscure product. The troopers looked to each other in confusion, unsure of what to do. They all jumped in surprise as his body spontaneously combusted and were then blown off of their feet as his body exploded in their faces. After landing hard on their backs, they groaned and climbed back up to their feet. With most of the smoke gone, with the exception of the smoke created by Broadcast's explosion, the troopers had no trouble in seeing that it was just them and Arata now. Said Rider stood from his hiding spot and dragged himself towards the group.

"Are…are you guys alright?" he asked, still slightly out of breath but showing signs that he was otherwise alright.

"Yeah," 2 answered in a less than pleasant tone as he walked up to them, "we're fine." A brief ring from within the troopers' helmets caught their attention.

"Hello?" Tech's voice came through, "Come in. This is Tech. Our live video feed just came back online. Is everyone alright? I need a status report."

2 raised her paw and clicked a button at the side of her helmet. "This is 2 speaking. We've received some minor injuries, but we'll otherwise be alright." She glanced back at the spot where Broadcast had blown up. "The Dopant seems to have self-destructed. For whatever reason, I'm not sure. But whatever the case, it's gone."

"Is that so?" Tech furrowed her brow slightly. "…Alright. Grab the Memory then and get out of there."

"Roger that," 2 replied with a nod. She lowered her paw and walked over to the explosion site. Kneeling down in front of it, she dusted aside the ashes that had piled up in search of said Memory. But, much to her surprise, there was none to be found. Confused, she looked around the area more in search of it, with her fellow troopers following suit as soon as they realized the situation. They looked and looked but to no avail. With a frustrated growl, 2 stood back up and raised her paw to her helmet again. "This is 2 again. We've got a problem. The Memory is nowhere to be found."

"What?!" Tech exclaimed.

"Come to think of it," 2 continued, "the tent hasn't disappeared either. Something's not right."

"I don't get it," said Arata, "The Dopant's taken out already, and the Memory could have just been vaporized or something." 4 growled and glared at him.

"That's not something that can happen. Dopant Memories, especially the recent one's we've been dealing with, don't just vanish out of thin air. Every time we've taken a Dopant out, there's always at least _some_ evidence of the used Memory." She then gestured at the area around them. "Plus, if _this_ is still here, then that's a sign that the Dopant's not down. It's still active!" As soon as the words left her mouth, the ground opened up from underneath them. They all cried out as they fell down a narrow pit, grunting as their decent came to a sudden halt. They groaned as they picked themselves off of the ground, with Arata having a bit more difficulty than the others.

"Ugh…" said 3, "…what the heck is going on?" No one had time to answer as the walls around them suddenly started to close in on them. Panicking, everyone rushed to their side of the wall and tried to push back.

"Guys! I've got it!" shouted Tech through the intercom, "The Dopant wasn't the one onscreen! It was the tent itself!" Everyone let out strained groans as they struggled against the increasingly shrinking walls. With his fatigue, Arata couldn't do much to help. Despite this, he tried his hardest, going so far as to try and freeze the walls in place. But unfortunately for him and everyone else, he was far too drained of energy to even attempt such a thing.

"ARATA!" screamed Erika as she watched the video feed in horror, "GET OUT OF THERE!" Many people in the base joined in screaming as well, yelling out similar things as they watched the troopers struggle helplessly.

"I can't…hold out…for much longer!" 4 cried out, straining herself as she pushed back with all of her might.

"Don't you DARE give up on us!" growled 2, pushing back harder than before, "We are GOING to make it dammit! Just KEEP…PUSHING!" But things seemed increasingly hopeless as the walls moved closer and closer together. Within moments, everyone was touching their back heels. Arata's heart thudded as despair began to wash over him. He could feel his body beginning to tremble from fear and exhaustion. He was sure that his body would give up on him soon.

"…E…Erika?" he spoke softly, "I'm…sorry for—"

"NO!" Erika cut him off, "SHUT UP! Just GET OUT OF THERE!" Tears began to fall from her eyes. "You CAN'T DIE! I'd never be able to LIVE with myself if you did!" Arata felt his heart break.

"I…" he began, his voice trembling, "I'm sorry! I'm just too weak to do anything!"

"Wait," muttered Tech, "Hey wait a minute! You still have your Maximum Drive!" She stood up a bit and moved Erika's phone closer to her. "Arata! Listen to me! You need to use your Maximum Drive while you still can! Freeze the walls and form a pole for the troopers to climb up!"

"I…" he struggled to let out his words as the walls jerked against them all, "I-I'll try!" As terrifying as it was to do, Arata took one arm off of the wall. Immediately, the walls moved in on his side, making him cry out in shock and fear. Now everyone was back to back, with little room left to them.

"Hurry up dammit!" growled 4. Roaring out, Arata fumbled with his belt before managing to re-slot his Memory.

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

His body fluctuated, snapping from solid to snow particles sporadically. Arata heaved with every breath, his consciousness threatening to slip.

"Come ON ARATA!" urged 2, "Keep at it!" The others followed suit, urging him in a similar manner. Soon everyone at the base did the same, their words and cries sounding through Erika's phone. Arata tensed and screamed out, pushing his body to its limits. After fluctuating one more time, his body burst into a raging blizzard, freezing the bottom portion of the pit and preventing the walls from moving in any closer. The blizzard rose up and up, and as it left the pit, a solid pole of ice gradually grew up and out to the top. Once it had fully formed, the blizzard came to an abrupt stop and condensed, causing Arata's unconscious body to drop to the floor.

"GO! GO! GO!" shouted 2, indicating for the others to get out first. 3 was the first to move, hopping up and grabbing the pole before climbing his way up. 4 made to move as well, only to find something holding her foot down. 2 looked down and saw that her foot had been frozen in place. She cursed loudly and knelt down, pounding at the ice. She heard a crack, encouraging her further. But as soon as she realized that it hadn't been the ice around 4's foot that had cracked, but the ice holding the walls in place that had cracked, she was suddenly encouraged in a VERY different way. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she beat away at the ice block, with 4 struggling against it to try and free herself. With a solid swing and a well-timed tug, the ice finally gave way and shattered. "MOVE!" she ordered 4. The trooper hopped up and grabbed hold of the pole, climbing frantically for her life. 2 followed close behind, all the while hearing more ice crack and crunch.

As soon as 4 was within reach, 3 reached out and pulled her to safety. Once she was out, both troopers reached out and grabbed hold of 2. The two of them grunted and hoisted her out just before the pit collapsed in to an even narrower size, with the remainder of the ice blocks seemingly keeping it from closing.

"Quickly!" shouted Tech through the com, "Before it opens up and forces you all to do that again! That pit is most likely its mouth, so chuck ALL of your remote bombs in there!" None of them needed to be told twice. They all scrambled around their pockets and pried out their bombs. Rushing to the hole, they hurled as many of their bombs in as they could. As the last bomb clattered to the bottom, they all backed off and pulled the triggers on their remotes. A bright flash lit the area, followed by an explosive bang, and the ground beneath them shook. Suddenly, everything began to shrink down and collapse in on itself. A low groan sounded out as the tent walls shot towards the group. They acted quickly, grabbing Arata's body and rushed out of the opening of the tent, with no barrier protecting it anymore. They all hit the ground as the streets seemed to realign with each other. The troopers outside crashed into each other as the ground shifted back into place. When everything finally came to a stop, an unconscious fur lay in the center of the street, with his Memory snaking out of his body and clattering onto the ground.

"They're out!" someone shouted in glee, causing everyone else in the base to erupt into a crescendo of joy and relief. Tears of happiness were shed by many, and many hugs were passed around. They had made it out alive; the nightmare broadcast was over.

As some of the troopers made their way over to the unconscious fur to take him in, several others rushed to the sides of the recently escaped group of troopers. 3 and 4 were the ones greeted first, allowing 2 enough time to wrap Arata's arm around her shoulder. He groaned lowly as he came back around, looking around them in a dazed state. "You did good, kid…" she said to him, "…you did good…" That was all she managed to say to him before she too was greeted by her fellow troopers who were absolutely bursting with happiness and gratefulness. She cut them off by telling them to save the warm greetings for back at base, before instructing them to help her get Arata's limp body over to the copter.

Back in the base, everyone was still cheering loudly, and Erika was no exception. Tears of joy were falling from her eyes, and she cared little for wiping them. But then, she closed her eyes, her smile fading, and her voice falling silent. Wordlessly, she stepped away from Tech's table and walked away. She didn't go unnoticed though, as Tech caught sight of her in her peripheral vision. She glanced back and forth between where she had gone and the cheering mess of furs before her. After coming to the conclusion that her job here was done today, she decided to quietly follow Erika out of the observation area. Following her intuition, (and her senses), she found the snow leopard back inside the lab with a set of blueprints spread across the table before her.

Knocking gently on the frame of the door, Tech asked her in a soft voice, "Erika? Are you alright, honey?"

Erika nodded. "Yeah…I'm fine…" Slowly, she turned to face her, taking one of the blueprints off of the desk and presenting it to the vixen, "but I'll be _much_ better once we finish _this_." Tech looked down and gasped. Presented to her was the design for the improved version of the dual sided Memory. "I…am _done…_ with watching Arata endanger his life again and again," Erika continued, "It's time that we started to work on this."

Tech let out a sigh of defeat. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was right. They needed to complete it sooner than later. "Well then…let's get to work."


	4. Chapter 3: A Mortal's Ascension

Last time on Kamen Rider Zero:

With the three Amnesia troopers trapped, Arata is forced to play along with Broadcast's twisted games. Through a chance opportunity, Arata manages to break the troopers out at the cost of his own exhaustion. With them freed, the three of them manage to neutralize the Broadcast Dopant, with Kamen Hunter Lockon managing to slip away from their grasp. But it didn't end there, for the Dopant was still active. After its main body was destroyed, it was discovered that its true body was the tent itself. Arata and the three troopers were then forced into a near death experience, and barely managed to make it out alive, much to the relief of everyone in the base. And after witnessing Arata once again risk his life, Erika comes to a final resolve: to not allow him to fight on his own ever again...

* * *

Kamen Rider Zero Arc 2

CH 3: A _M_ ortal's _A_ scension

Several days had gone by since the attack of Broadcast. By now, everything felt like it was back to normal business. At the very least, that was how Arata felt. He and his friends were back in the tech shop. Once again, he had been left to watch the shop, with Erika nowhere to be seen. As per usual, Dave and Vince were seated in front of the large screen, playing their game.

"Say, Arata," said the husky, "I've been wonderin, why is it that you've been watching over the shop for so long?" Arata tilted his head slightly in thought.

"I don't…know really," he replied, "Erika told me that she was working on some…big project, but I wasn't told what it was."

"Wait, she's still going to school?" asked Vince.

"I don't think so," answered Arata. The group silenced as they all pondered what it was that could've been going on. _Bahh,_ the panther thought to himself, _I've got no genuine idea. What's been up with her lately though? After the whole thing with Broadcast, I would've thought that she'd be fussing over me for_ weeks _. At least it_ seemed _like she would from the way she was acting when I was being taken in to the recovery room…_ He raised a brow. _Then again…she seemed to be a lot more distant with me after I woke up… Like she was…openly avoiding me…_ He shook his head. _Maybe I shouldn't think about it too much. She might just be doing something private, and doesn't want to let me know about it._ Suddenly, he heard the door open behind him. "Welcome to the tech-oh," he stopped himself as he realized that it was Erika, "h-hey Erika." The other males' ears raised at the mention of her name.

"Oh hey Erika," greeted Dave, "we've been wondering when you'd be back to work."

"Well I'm not," she said dismissively, "I'm just here to pick up some things." Without another word, she slipped into her office. It was mere seconds before she was back out, and heading for the door. "Later everyone."

"H-hey wait a sec," Arata began, following her out the door. She kept on walking until Arata grabbed hold of her shoulder. Erika closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Erika…what's going on," he began, the snow leopard keeping her gaze forward and avoiding facing him directly, "Is there something wrong? Do we…need to talk?"

"I'm fine, Arata," she replied simply. She began to walk away again, but Arata followed.

"Are you _absolutely_ sure about that?" he asked firmly. Erika growled and looked him in the eyes, making him withdraw slightly. The two felines stared at each other for a moment, a cold silence settling in between them. After a while, Erika tore her gaze away from his and shoved his paw off of her shoulder.

"Everything. Is. Fine," she declared in a firm tone. Another tense moment of silence passed. Feeling like he was left without any other option, Arata let her be and backed away slowly. Erika let out another sigh before walking away without as much as a backwards glance. He watched with astonishment as she walked away. Regardless of her words, he knew that something had happened between them.

 _I just wish I knew what it was…_ Shaking his head, he turned back and walked back into the shop, where he was greeted by the eyes of Vince and Dave.

"Sooooooo," Dave began, "how'd it go?" Arata bit his lip.

"It uhh…" he hesitated, "it…it went well…" He hurried over to his computer, wanting to occupy himself with something else. As he sat down, he felt the presence of his friends just behind him.

"Is that so?" asked Dave.

"Y…yeah, it's um…it's so," answered Arata.

"Is it _really_ so?" asked the weasel. Arata's tail flicked nervously behind him.

"Yes, it…it's really so." The group went quiet as Arata typed away at his keyboard.

"So what do you even work on when you're working here?" asked Dave.

"Maintenance," he replied simply. He felt Vince lean in closer.

"…I don't think checking Face Space counts as maintenance…" Another moment of silence passed.

"…Just get back to your game you two."

* * *

Daiki stood tall and proud in front of a body length mirror as he fixed his tie. Though the mirror, he could see his sister standing in the doorway behind him.

"Are you going out for another attack?" she asked him.

"Mmhm," he answered her, tilting his muzzle up slightly to get a better view of his tie.

"How many Dopants do you have backing you up this time?" his sister continued.

"Only one," Daiki answered. Suddenly, his sister felt the urge to strangle him out of agitation.

"And _why_ is that?" she asked, her tone giving away much of how she felt about this fact. Despite this, Daiki remained oblivious.

"I couldn't get any other buyers over the week." He let out an irritated huff as he undid his tie to redo it.

"So why can't you just wait until you have more buyers?" his sister asked with a slight growl. Daiki rolled his eyes at that.

"Oh dear sister of mine," he began, "we _must_ make sure that Jinsoku is reminded of how prevalent we are. And in order to do that, our attacks must be _frequent_. _Consistent. Evenly spaced out_." The desire to strangle him was growing more and more. "Look, everything will be fine," added Daiki, "The Memory I sold is an _extremely_ dependable one. I doubt even _Zero_ will be able to stand up to the Dopant _it_ creates."

His sister let out a chuff. "What _possible_ Memory could be strong enough to be the _only_ back up you have?" This made Daiki laugh.

"Oh Mira, you know me all too well," he said with an amused shake of his head, "No, as _much_ as I would love to be the one in the lead for this attack, I will _actually_ be taking on the role of support." Hearing this left his sister in shock, therefore leaving a long moment of silence between them as Daiki worked on his tie.

"What…Memory did you end up selling?" Mira asked. Daiki smiled. As an answer, he raised up one of his arms and flexed. He glanced over to her as he waited to see if she could figure it out. She furrowed her brow in thought. "Is it…Muscle?"

"Bingo," Daiki replied, returning his gaze to the mirror. Again, the female wolf was shocked.

"I'm surprised someone bought it this early on," she commented, "Even for a high class Memory, it's expensive." Daiki laughed again, shaking his head.

"Oh dear sister of mine," he began, "such trivial matters don't mean anything to an extraordinary salesman such as myself. I made a good sale, and that's that." Finally done with his tie, he moved on to fix his collar. "Now it won't matter _how_ sturdy that Zero character's body is. The tank that this Memory produces will be strong enough to shatter whatever gets in its way." He tugged thoughtfully at his collar and moved on to the rest of his coat. "And I'd prefer _not_ to be the one in the way, which is why for _this_ attack, I will be acting as the support." Mira's gaze fell down to her feet. The fact that her brother had made an actual decent sale left her fishing for words.

"I…underestimated you, it would seem," she commented, "I never thought that you would manage such a feat with your…lackluster…marketing skills."

"Hey," Daiki snapped, "Say what you want about my strategies, but they are _loads_ better than _your_ cheap tactics." Mira turned her chin upwards.

"So long as they say yes, _and_ they pay up, it counts as a legitimate sale." Daiki rolled his eyes. With one last tug at his collar, he leaned over and picked up his suitcase with a sigh.

"Well, I am off," he informed his sister as he walked out the door, "Try not to drool over the screen while you watch Muscle do its thing." She growled at him, only doing it more as she heard her brother laugh. After hearing their front door close, she shook her head. With a shake of her head, she sat down quietly and reached into her pocket. Once she was settled down, she managed to slip out a Memory. More specifically, _her_ Memory. She leaned her head against her free paw as she stared at it, tracing her thumb along the large swirling H at the front.

 _One day, he will learn his place,_ she thought to herself, _One day, he will be proven wrong… Once I've wrapped the whole world around my finger, he will be nothing but my willing_ slave boy…

* * *

With his work done for the day, Arata decided to drop by the Amnesia facility. As he walked in, he scanned the area in search of Erika. As he more or less expected, he didn't find the snow leopard anywhere nearby. Even after calling out her name, she didn't show up at all. However, he _did_ spot 6, the husky trooper that he had met up with much more than any of the other troopers. "Hey, 6!" he called out to her with a wave. Her ears swiveled his way before she turned to face him, returning his greeting with a wave of her own. Shuffling his way awkwardly through the crowd, he gradually made his way over to her. "Hey, um…quick question. Have you by any chance seen Erika around here recently?"

"Erika… That's the snow mew that visits Tech a bunch, right?" she asked him.

"Snow mew? …Uhh…y-yeah, that's her…I-I guess…" 6 nodded thoughtfully, ignoring Arata's confused expressions.

"Yeah, I saw her earlier. I think she's actually in the lab right now."

"Oh, okay, thank you," Arata bowed before turning away.

"Ah-ah-ah," she stopped him, grabbing onto his shoulder, "Hold up a sec, cat. What I _also_ have to say is that she _explicitly_ told me that if _you_ ever showed up and asked for her, she told me to tell _you_ to leave her be."

Arata was taken aback by this. "R…really?" The husky merely nodded in response. Arata let out a sigh, taking a moment to really take all of this in. "Well…can you at least tell me _why_? I would really like to talk things out with her, and it'd be a little more reassuring if I knew the reason she doesn't want to see me."

6 chuffed at that. "Listen cat, now _I_ don't like to get into other peoples' business, _especially_ when it comes to couple disputes—"

"W-wait a sec!" Arata stammered, "We're not like that at all. Th-the two of us are just friends!"

"Hmph, yeah, don't worry. The two of you are _clearly_ just friends now." As Arata's jaw fell slack, she walked away with a smug look on her face. By the time he found his voice again, she was gone. Having left him in his slack jawed state, 6 strolled over to the lab's entryway and knocked on the doorframe, causing the two females in the room to look up from their desks. "Hey, uhh…Erika," she began, "that Arata kid's here."

"Did you tell him off?" Erika asked her. The husky chuckled.

"Oh I straight up _burned_ him," she answered, her chuckles being the only ones in the room. After a minute, she stopped and cleared her throat before excusing herself. Shaking her head, Erika moved her attention back to the Memory in front of her, whilst Tech returned her attention to the device in her paws.

" _Sooooo_ , Erika," said the vixen, "quick question for ya."

"Go ahead," she replied in a bored tone.

"You planning on telling me why you've been trying so hard to stay away from Arata as of late?" She flicked her ears as she heard the snow leopard huff and set the Memory back down on the desk before her.

"Did you even _see_ Arata after the Broadcast attack?" she asked in an irritated tone, catching the vixen off guard.

"I did," she answered hesitantly.

"Well did you notice how blatantly _carefree_ he was after leaving the recovery room?"

Tech shook her head. "'Fraid not. I had other things I needed to attend to at the time."

"Well I _did_ ," Erika replied, putting a bit more emphasis on her last word than she originally intended to, "Once he was out, he acted as though he hadn't _just_ been in a life or death situation! If anything, he was _numb_ to that fact." She shook her head and eased a breath out as she turned back around to face the Memory at her desk.

"So…" Tech continued hesitantly, "what exactly…is wrong with that?" A loud thud sounded out from Erika's side of the room, making the vixen jerk in surprise.

"I was nearly scared to _death_ during that attack!" she exclaimed, tightening her grip around the Memory, "Do you even realize how _afraid_ I was of the possibility of losing him in such a gruesome way?! They were _literally_ going to die, and afterwards, he just _walks away_ from it like he was just leaving the restroom."

"…That's an…oddly specific metaphor," Tech commented. Erika ignored her and kept going.

"It's just so _frustrating_ to see him like that! It's almost as though he doesn't _care_ whether or not he gets mortally wounded during an attack. Like he'd be _okay_ with leaving the people that love and care for him behind if he died!"

"And which category do _you_ fall under?" Tech asked slyly. Erika growled loudly. A tense moment of silence passed before the snow leopard finally answered.

"…That's neither here nor there." She shook her head and fumed for another quick moment before continuing her rant. "Ugh, and it was _me_ that was supposed to be risking my life in the first place, not _him_. I just wanted to use the Freeze Memory so that no one else would have to _stupidly_ risk their life for my cause. And yet _Arata_ goes off and lets himself be a _punching bag_ for nearly every Dopant he's fought so far." Suddenly remembering why she was in the lab in the first place, Erika looked back down and got back to work on the Memory in her paws. "It just…really gets to me in a bad way… That's all…"

Tech shrugged; it wasn't the answer she was expecting in the least, but it was an answer that satisfied her none-the-less. Swishing her tail gently behind her, she turned back around and got back to work on the device at her desk. "Either way, he won't be the only one stupidly risking his life soon. I'm almost done with working on the Solar Driver."

Erika's ears flickered up slightly. "Solar Driver? Why _that_ name?"

Tech smiled. "Just because of the Memory it'll be working with. And _speaking of which_." She turned back around. "How close are you to completing that dual-sided Memory?"

"It's pretty close to completion," Erika replied, "It may take a bit longer to complete though. Ran into a few complications with it a couple days ago. It's fairly unstable, so it's gonna take longer than expected for me to fix it up to the point of it being useful."

Tech nodded thoughtfully before turning back to face the Driver. "Well, least it's coming along nicely…"

Meanwhile, Arata was sitting quietly in one of the chairs at the lounge. He felt so awkward sitting there without knowing what to do. Everyone else in the facility was walking around like they had something to do, and it almost made him question the point of having the lounge in the facility in the first place. He twiddled his thumbs nervously and kept his gaze down at his lap. He had originally come here to try and meet up with Erika, but since she didn't want to see him, there was no real point to him being there. But he didn't want to just show up and leave. That felt…rude of him to do.

He glanced up as he noticed some of the troopers walk past him and wave. He hesitated in waving back to them, but by the time his paw was up, they were gone. Some more troopers walked by, but when he raised his paw to wave at them, all he got back were some dirty looks. The panther groaned inwardly and sank back slightly. He had forgotten that his status as Kamen Rider Zero wasn't entirely one that made him the most _liked_ fur in the team. He really couldn't blame them, as the only reason they were having trouble fighting these recent Dopant attacks was because they didn't have a powerful enough Memory like his. Still though, he wished there were just a _bit_ more troopers that didn't despise his presence.

 _Ugh, forget it_ , he thought to himself, _there's really no point in staying here any longer… I should just head back home…_ He stood up from his seat with his ears and tail drooping low. But just about everything on his body stood up as a sudden, familiar sound went off. That being the sound of the Dopant alarm. Immediately, everyone else in the facility hastened their steps as they rushed off to their assigned stations. In a confused, frantic scramble, Arata jerked back and forth between two different hallways, trying to figure out which one to take.

As Tech rushed out of the lab, she noticed the feline pacing around like a bum and clicked her tongue. She hurried over to him before grabbing hold of his shoulder. "Come on," she growled as she dragged him along with her. Within moments, the two of them were in the observation room. It was then that Tech released the panther from her grasp. As he stood back up and straightened himself, he looked around the room and took notice of what appeared to be all of the troopers, with a scarred Komodo dragon standing at the front of them all. It took a moment for him to realize that it was 1, the commander of the team. Arata had grown so used to seeing everyone in their suits that he had almost forgotten what most of them looked like out of them. Shaking his head and taking his attention elsewhere, he followed everyone's eyes to the large screen in the front, which was displaying a map with an icon indicating where the alarm had been set off from.

Someone switched the screen over to video feed from a street light camera, allowing everyone to see the monstrosity that had prompted the alarm. A huge, bulking monster, eight feet tall at the least, was stomping its way down the road, shaking the camera with every footstep and leaving sizable imprints of its feet with each one taken. Eventually, it came upon a parked car. Apparently it was blocking his way.

Emphasis on was.

The Dopant reeled its arm back before rocketing it forward. As soon as his fist collided with the car's side, the vehicle was blown out of its way, shattering to nothing but rubble as the force of the Dopant's punch was sent through it. Shouts of surprise was heard all around the room. Everyone in the room, especially the troopers, shifted around nervously at the sight, knowing full well that they would have to deal with the hulking Dopant.

"Tech," 1's deep voice suddenly sounded out, "have we ever fought a Dopant with this much power behind it before?"

"I…want to say yes…" the vixen replied, "but unfortunately, I'm doubting it. You guys have fought a lot in your time, but in terms of raw power, this thing looks like the strongest one out of all of them by far." Everyone else in the room shuffled around nervously, all but 1. With a stoic expression across his features, he turned to face everyone.

"Listen up!" he shouted out, "Absolutely NO ONE is to engage the Dopant in physical combat. We will be fighting _exclusively_ with long range weaponry. I doubt why I need to explain my reason for this." The other troopers all nodded in all too enthusiastic agreement. Satisfied with this response, 1 continued. "Now, it is very possible that this Dopant will be breaking down walls and threatening civilians. So be aware of your surroundings. Keep this guy from approaching buildings as much as possible. Is that understood?!"

"Yes sir!" the troopers shouted back in response. 1 nodded firmly.

"Then roll out!" at his command, the troopers rushed off to their assigned stations, Drivers and Memories in paw. As they ran off, the komodo turned and took notice of Arata. "Hey, why aren't you transforming?!"

The panther jerked suddenly in surprise. He stammered a bit before finally managing a response. "I-I've never transformed indoors before sir! I make a small blizzard whenever I do, so I figured it'd be a bad idea." 1 sighed.

"Fine then. Wait here until everyone else has been deployed."

"Y-yes sir!"

"I'm not done," 1 continued, "Once you go, grab a magnum from the armory. That body of yours may be tough, but I don't want to take chances. _Especially_ now."

Arata let out a nervous laugh, hoping to lighten the mood. "Heheheh, if anything _does_ happen, you guys can just pop me in the recovery room, right?"

1 narrowed his eyes at him. "…Just don't do anything stupid."

Arata gulped. "Yes sir." With a nod, 1 rushed off to where his troopers had gone, leaving the panther to groan to himself.

With a slight chuckle, Tech patted him on the head. "Hey, it was a good try. It's hard just to get that guy to so much as smile." Arata looked to the vixen in confusion, unsure of how to react to that. But she waved her paw in dismissal and pushed him forward. "Come on then! Get moving Zero!"

"R-right!" he shouted before hurrying off. After running through the widely opened doors, he ran out into the base's giant vehicle garage, where all 12 of Amnesia's troopers were scrambling. They were all split off into their own assigned groups, with several hopping onto the bikes and with others rushing over into the chopper.

"LOCKDOWN IN THE DISTRICT IS NOW COMPLETE," spoke a voice over the PA system, "ALL UNITS CLEAR FOR DEPARTURE." With that said, the troopers on the bikes zoomed forward and out onto the streets. And as the last of the troopers boarded the chopper, the armored aircraft took off into the air. Arata bounced on his heels a bit as he realized that it was about time he took off as well. He drew his Driver out from his jacket and slapped it onto his waist, causing the belt to snake around his form and secure itself to him firmly. He rushed towards where he had parked his bike as he pried his Memory out from his pocket. He clumsily slotted it into his Driver and mounted his ride. He revved up his bike before crossing his right arm across his chest and slanting the Driver with his left paw.

FREEZE!

A blizzard swept around his form as he began his transformation. As soon as he felt it was done, he whipped his cloak away from his face and drove off. _…Oh shoot WAIT A MINUTE!_ He suddenly screeched to a halt and turned back around, rushing back into the facility. _Almost forgot the magnum!_ He hastily dismounted his bike and ran off in a hurry, forgetting to put out the kick stand on his bike which led to it falling over onto the floor. He flinched at the loud bang it made upon hitting the ground, but he continued running regardless. Eventually, he came across a steel crater that housed several of the magnums he was seeking. He opened it up and drew one out. As he turned back around and rushed over to his bike, he thought to himself, _Jeez, I hope no one saw that…_ Luckily for him, he'd never learn that he had been seen by half of the staff in the building.

* * *

The behemoth of a Dopant stomped down the street with little to no regard of whatever was in his way. It didn't matter what it was. A car, a wall, a building, anything. If it was in his way, he would merely punch it until it was out of his way. "OH YEAH!" he exclaimed with confidence, "Ain't NO ONE gonna get in the way of all of THIS!" He suddenly struck a pose, flexing his bulging muscles. "There ain't NO ONE out there that's as strong as me. NUH-UH!"

"Yes, yes," spoke a voice from amongst the shadows, "Not one being in this entire city can match strength such as yours." Daiki watched the Dopant in amusement whilst twirling one of his pistols around his index finger. "Now go on, Muscle, keep going. Amnesia won't show up to an empty gun show."

"Ohohoh, you don't have to worry 'bout that none," Muscle answered him, "These guns of mine have _mighty fine_ fire power!" He paused to flex for effect before stomping over to a nearby wall and punching a hole clean through it. Daiki applauded the display of strength.

"Fan _tastic_. Keep it going. Rampage onwards and let everyone know of your strength. Amnesia should be here at any moment." _As well as Zero,_ he added to himself, _Oh I cannot_ wait _to see that stupid rat get shattered into a million tiny pieces…_ He looked up as he caught on to the sound of an approaching chopper. Right on cue, the Amnesia chopper soared overhead before stopping just several meters away, with troopers dropping down from it one by one. Seeing that as his cue to disappear, Daiki walked deeper into the shadows.

Meanwhile, as the ground troopers cut Muscle off from one side of the road, several other troopers rode in from the other side on their bikes to box him in. With everyone in place, the troopers all took aim at the giant with their magnums. "UNDO YOUR TRANSFORMATION AND GET ON THE GROUND!" shouted 1 before firing a warning shot near the Dopant's feet.

Muscle folded his arms and laughed. "Oh you don't even KNOW who you're dealin' with, bucko." At that, he began to stomp towards the commander. As soon as his second step was taken, everyone opened fire upon him. But even with literally everyone's guns firing at the beast, he continued to walk forward, showing absolutely no sign of damage whatsoever. The troopers he was headed towards began to back away nervously, only growing more so as he neared whilst laughing out confidently. And that nervousness quickly changed to outright fear as Muscle slowly went into a full on sprint at them, his feet leaving giant footprints with every stomp. The troopers frantically dive-rolled out of the way before they could be run over by this moving freight train, just barely managing to avoid him. As he skidded to a stop, the troopers all focused fire on him. Again, he showed no signs of damage, or even recognition for that matter.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" he bellowed as he turned around, his loud voice booming over the crescendo of bullet fire, "THOSE puny pea shooters ain't NOTHIN compared to _this_ gun show! POW!" He struck a pose. "BANG!" He struck another. "BOOM!" At that, he pounded the ground with a huge fist, causing the entire block to tremor. The troopers all fell to the ground, unable to keep their balance. Muscle kept punching the ground, shaking it again and again and deepening the crevices he was creating with his bare hands. All around, the buildings nearby began to crack from the gradually strengthening earthquakes he was creating.

As 1 failed to get back on his feet for the third time, he pried a flash grenade out and pulled the pin. He chucked it at the Dopant, and the grenade went off right in his face, producing a blindingly bright flash. Muscle exclaimed in shock, stepping back and shielding his eyes with a giant hand. This was the opportunity 1 had been waiting for. Now back up on his feet, he pried out several grenades and pulled their pins, throwing all of them at Muscle at once. As the first set exploded off of his body, the other troopers followed suit and threw their own. But with each one, all Muscle did was twitch slightly.

Regardless, the loud bangs only served to anger the behemoth. He roared out in anger before charging at the troopers once more. The targeted troopers hastily jumped out of the way, leaving Muscle with no obstacles in his way except for the wall of the nearest building. The term, 'obstacle' was barely applicable in this sense though, as Muscle plowed through it like it was made of nothing but tissues and cardboard. As Muscle ran through, bricks and blocks of cement fell from what was left standing, with much of that debris falling upon a civilian from inside of the building. Cries of pain and shock sounded out as the civilian was trapped under the rubble.

"Dammit, we've got a hurt civilian!" shouted one of the troopers through the com link. That was all it took to get everyone else moving. As several troopers rushed over to where the civilian was, the rest followed along whilst pulling out several more grenades from their pouches. These weren't just regular grenades though; it was clear that those were a waste. The troopers knew this, but the Dopant didn't. So it was time to let him know that. Pulling the pins on them, they tossed the grenades at Muscle's head. As the burst, painfully high pitched screeches sounded out, stunning the Dopant and forcing him to shield his ears with his large hands. That didn't help very much, if at all, so he began to stagger back, and away from the civilian. Whilst the bombing troopers kept the Dopant at bay, the other troopers helped remove the rubble trapping the unlucky fur so as to get him out of there quicker.

As all of this was going on, Daiki stepped out slightly from his hiding spot. _Hmm,_ he thought to himself, _I can see the 12 troopers are all accounted for, but where is Mr. Cape Man?_ He smiled internally as the familiar sound of a motorcycle engine filled his ears. Practically on cue, Zero rushed into view on his bike, screeching to a halt just a few meters away from the combat sight.

And what a sight it was.

Seeing half of the troopers hurriedly moving the blocks of cement away from the trapped civilian, then the rest of the troopers keep the hulking monstrosity of a Dopant at bay, Arata couldn't help but feel…rather nervous.

 _He…looks a lot bigger in person_ , he thought to himself before taking proper hold of the magnum he took with him. He pried his Memory out from his belt and slotted it into the gun. Once it was in, he took aim at Muscle and fired at him. The Dopant grunted a bit as he felt sudden cold wash over him. As he moved around a bit more, he felt sheets of ice around his body crackle and shatter. More and more sheets were added on, making it harder and harder for him to move. Eventually, his entire body was frozen in place.

For a moment.

Muscle began to laugh. "THERE'S the guy I'm lookin for!" With another confident laugh, he flexed proudly and broke through his icy prison, with razor sharp shards of ice falling to the ground below him. He continued his laugh as he turned around to face the armored panther. "Stay still, huh? Imma break some pieces off of ya fer a nice drink!" At that, he barreled for him with the speed and weight of a freight train. Yelping in panic, Arata revved his bike and shot off to the side just in time to avoid a swipe from the Dopant. He screeched to a halt before the troopers and let out and frantically looked back and forth between them and Muscle.

"I-is everyone alright?" he asked between his constant turning.

"We're fine, just focus on the Dopant!" shouted 1 before turning to his other troopers, "You five! Back Zero up! The rest of you help me in moving the civilian out of here!" The troopers acknowledged his orders with a firm nod before proceeding with what they were ordered to do. The five troopers that 1 had referred to now stood by Arata's side, whilst the rest got back to work in moving the debris out of the way. About half of it was out of the way, but there was no telling how much longer it would take to be rid of the rest, or at least enough to move the civilian. The other troopers indicated for Arata to follow them, so he dismounted his bike and willed it off to somewhere else as he ran over to them. The five troopers then stood in one line, forming a sort of wall a good distance in front of the working troopers. Arata eventually caught up and joined them, his heart pounding hard in his chest.

As Muscle turned around and saw them standing there, he let out a mocking laugh. "Oh now THAT'S just cute." In a confident stride, the Dopant stomped towards the group.

"Fire!" shouted one of the troopers before the others opened fire upon Muscle. It took a moment for Arata to catch on as well and to begin firing on his own. Unfortunately for them, Muscle walked forward as though nothing else was going on, and like nothing was in the way. Even as Arata's ice blasts slowed his advance, they did so very minimally. He began to pick up speed again as he sprinted forward, seemingly without abandon. It didn't take very long for the troopers to realize that what they were doing wasn't doing them any good. However, rather than diving off to the side to retreat, the troopers cried out and charged at Muscle, catching Arata completely off guard. Despite not being at full speed, Muscle barreled through the troopers easily, batting them off to the side and sending them hurdling into the walls of nearby buildings.

Arata grew increasingly nervous as Muscle began to near. Even as he continued to blast the Dopant with ice, it seemed as though they were having little to no effect. He was getting dangerously close now; he had to think! Acting fast, Arata blasted Muscle directly in the face, disorienting him and making him swing his arms around wildly. This gave Arata enough time to anticipate Muscle's steps and dive between his legs, rolling away as soon as he hit the ground. As soon as he was back up on his feet, he whirled around and shot several blasts at the Dopant's feet.

The ice solidified just in time to stop Muscle just short of trampling over the trapped civilian and the other troopers. As soon as he realized that he was stuck, he began to claw at the ice and continued to swing his other arm around wildly. One particular swing created a new crevice in one of the nearby walls, rattling one of the troopers who had been just a bit too close. Cringing beneath his mask, Arata continued to fire away at Muscle, trying to continuously reinforce the ice that he kept cracking. It seemed like he was making good progress, but it all went out the window as several fireballs shot out from nowhere and exploded against the ice, melting several layers that Arata had tried to reinforce. Before the Rider was given the chance to question what had happened, he was struck in the back by several orbs of pure light, knocking him off of his feet.

 _And_ that _was for my pride,_ Daiki thought to himself from his spot in the shadows, chuckling to himself before continuing to blast at the thick layers of ice that had formed over the Dopant. Meanwhile, Arata growled as he stood back up.

 _Dammit,_ he thought to himself, _he's here… Somewhere… But where exactly?_ He wasn't given enough time to search. Soon enough, the ice was thin enough for Muscle's strength to win over. With a bellowing cry, he shattered the ice covering him, including the sheet that had formed around his head. Roaring out in fury, he spun around and charged at Arata. The Rider barely rolled away in time to avoid before taking aim again at Muscle. But before he could fire off his first shot, a row of light orbs pummeled him down to his knees and forced him to defend. He growled as he struggled against the orbs, trying to figure out which direction they were coming from. His heart leapt as he caught on to the sight of Muscle barreling towards him again. Casting aside his cloak momentarily, Arata shot at the Dopant several times. Unfortunately for him, Muscle wasn't planning on experiencing that a second time. Continuing on at the same speed, he shielded his face with his arms. Left with no time to think, Arata tried to slow him down by shooting and freezing Muscle's feet.

Though it didn't stop him in his tracks entirely, Arata was given enough time to evade and reposition himself in an area farther away from the trapped civilian and the other troopers. _Dammit, where is he coming from?!_ He thought to himself in frustration, looking around frantically in search of the shadowed sniper Lockon. Several more orbs of light appeared around him, once again preventing him from being able to search properly. He grunted with every hit, the damage he took buffered by his cloak. Suddenly, the oncoming orbs began to orbit him rapidly, confusing him for a moment. He looked around nervously, unsure of what to do. Then, without warning, they all converged on him at once, leaving him with absolutely no way to defend himself. He cried out in pain as they all burst against his body with surprising force. He panted and staggered slightly as the smoke around him began to clear. He looked around himself warily, disoriented by all of the smoke.

Luckily for him, enough of it cleared away in time for him to see Muscle just meters away of him, rushing towards him at a frighteningly fast pace. Yelping in surprise, he dove out of the way to make yet another narrow escape. As Arata rolled to safety, he heard a loud crash followed by the sounds of crumbling. His heart skipped a beat, making him scramble back up to his feet. It was as he feared; not only had Muscle crashed through a building, but he had also trapped several more civilians under the rubble in the process.

"Dammit!" cursed one of the troopers amongst the working group, who had just finished clearing enough rubble away to allow a safe removal of the injured civilian.

"You two! With me!" shouted 1, "The rest of you get the civilian out of here!" Vocally acknowledging the command, the other troopers carefully raised the civilian out of the rubble and rushed off to safety. The other three waited for Muscle to charge at Arata again before sprinting to the newly wrecked area.

"Stop charging at me, damn you!" growled Arata, once again pelting Muscle's legs to slow him down enough to allow the Rider to dive between his legs. As soon as he was back up, he blasted at Muscle's feet to try and reinforce the layer of ice he had created. Unfortunately for him, the orbs of light hadn't stopped coming. They whirled around and intercepted his blasts, preventing him from hitting his mark and making him growl out in frustration.

"STAY STILL YA LITTLE VARMINT!" roared Muscle before he whirled around and slammed his fist into the ground. The entire area began to tremor from the sheer force of the blow, making Arata and the troopers lose their balance and fall to the ground. And with that tremoring came more problems, as the newly wrecked building began to collapse, spilling more debris which fell upon the troopers, knocking any that managed to stay up down to the ground, trapping them as more and more fell upon them.

"NO!" Arata screamed in horror, his heart nearly coming to a stop.

"It's ok Arata!" came Tech's voice, "They're alright, just trapped. Just focus on the Dopant for now!"

"R…right," he replied with a bit of effort, tearing his gaze away from the building before glaring at the Dopant. _Alright…_ he thought to himself, _that does it._ He quickly reached down to his gun and slanted the bottom portion of the barrel up.

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

He rolled out of the way of several other light orbs, doing his best to keep away from them for as long as he could whilst his magnum charged up. "FROZEN…" he began, diving out of the way of another light orb. He landed and rolled back up to his knees, taking aim and pulling the trigger. "CRASH!" A wild blizzard burst from the barrel of his magnum, slamming into Muscle and flash freezing him to the ground in a thick block of ice. Arata exclaimed in victory, though his celebration was cut short as the orb he had been running from caught up to him and blasted him in the back. He fell forward and began to tumble, making it all the more difficult to recover. When he finally stopped, he slanted the magnum's barrel and ejected his Memory. Noticing several more light orbs headed his way from the corner of his eye, the armored panther wasted no time in stuffing it into the slot at his side.

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

The light orbs closed in on him, but as soon as the first one touched him, his body burst into a raging blizzard, engulfing the entire block and impeding on Daiki's view from his sniping position. The blizzard didn't last long though, as Arata's body once again solidified in the air. "Frozen…" he began before slapping the button at his side, "BREAKER!" He kicked his leg forward as his body shot through the air like a bullet. In an instant, his foot collided with the frozen block of ice that was Muscle, and the built up kinetic force was sent through Muscle's entire body. He heard a loud crack and felt the ice beneath his foot crumble. For a moment, he thought he had succeeded. But that thought was soon eliminated from his mind as after two seconds of staying in his kicking position, he realized that he wasn't going through the Dopant's body. The rest of the ice shell fell away to reveal Muscle's body, which was still fully intact, and more or less spotless.

"Sorry sonny," taunted Muscle, "but that ain't good enOUGH!" Exclaiming at the end, the Dopant batted Arata off of his shoulder, forcing a cry of pain out of him as he shot through the air and bounced off the side of one of the nearby buildings hard enough to leave an indentation in the shape of his body. Upon both the impact of the wall and Muscle's hand, Arata had felt several parts of his icy body crack sharply. His vision blurred as he fell to the floor, with parts of the now busted wall falling upon him. He landed with a thud and cried out again. As he laid there, he clutched his lower leg and held it to himself. He felt an enormous amount of pain coming from it, and it felt ready to snap at any moment. Through the haze of his pain, Arata heard Muscle laugh proudly, followed by the sound of him punching his fist into his palm, and then the sounds of his foot stomps. It was clear that he was intent on finishing the job. Realizing this, Arata struggled with all of his might to get away, but he couldn't. His heart pounding, he reached for his Memory to restart another Maximum Drive. But once his hand reached his side, he realized with dread that his Memory wasn't there. He frantically looked around in search of the device, realizing that it must have been knocked out of him after the initial blow. He noticed a small spec of blue out of the corner of his eye and focused on it. To his relief, but more so to his dismay, he recognized the spec indeed was his Memory. The only problem?

It was several meters away…

Tech's terror filled voice suddenly came through the com link. "Guys! You NEED to get up! Zero is in need of IMMEDIATE support!"

"D-division 1 here!" came one of the troopers, "We can't move! The rubble's got us trapped here!" Tech growled, shuffling around on her feet nervously.

"Division 2! Come in! Where are you?! Zero needs IMMEDIATE back up!" No response came. Tech's eyes flew to the screen nearest to her. All of Division 2's vitals were still stable, but it was clear that all of them were either knocked unconscious, or too injured to move.

Arata groaned as he clawed back to his feet, leaning entirely on his good leg. He tensed as Muscle drew closer. Desperate to get away, Arata tried to hobble his way to a safer, more closed off area. But even as he did this, he realized the futility of his efforts. The Dopant was strong enough to barrel through buildings as easily as crushing a cardboard box. There wasn't a single wall here that would stop the monstrosity. Several light orbs suddenly came into his view, and he tried to dive out of the way of them. However, the orbs followed him, and he was struck down by them as a result. Smoke floated off of him as he laid there trying to recover from the blow. He suddenly felt the ground shaking, and he realized that Muscle had started barreling towards him. He looked up and saw Muscle raise both of his arms up, ready to smash him to dust. Adrenaline rushing through his body, he rolled just out of the way using his good leg. As Muscle tried to swing at him again, he dove away frantically.

Tech's paws couldn't be tighter. Her claws were digging into her palms and drawing blood. Suddenly, she heard quickened foot stomps and felt a slight gust of wind rush past her. The vixen glanced behind her just in time to catch Erika rushing out of the observation area. "Erika!" Tech called out. No response. Tech clicked her tongue; she had other things to worry about right now. Her body still tense, she forced her attention back onto the screen before her.

Arata ducked out of the way of another swing, limping away frantically as he tried to gain some distance. As he backed up, he was blown off of his feet by a surprise fireball, resulting in him slamming hard into a nearby wall. He cried out in pain as he fell to the ground.

Tech's heart skipped a beat. Not for Arata this time, but instead for Erika. She realized where the snow leopard had run off to in such a hurry. She was headed for the lab. She was headed for the Memory.

She was headed for the Solar Driver.

"No…" Tech whispered under her breath, "no, No, NO! Erika don't! The Memory's still unstable!" Ignoring the confused looks she prompted from the other furs in the building, Tech rushed out of the room and hurried for the lab, hoping that she would get there in time to stop her.

" _A_ HAAA!" Arata cried out as he was blown off of his feet again, this time by a light orb. He landed just in front of Muscle, who all too gladly grabbed him by the head and violently pulled him up and off the ground. Arata cried out and clawed at Muscle's meaty fingers frantically, his efforts going unnoticed by the behemoth.

"Heheh, you know," said Muscle in a mocking tone, "I managed to crush an entire wrecking ball earlier today with nothin' but my two hands." Suddenly, Arata felt an excruciating level of pressure squeeze down on his head, forcing a pained scream out of him. "Let's see what I can do to your head with just one…" Arata screamed out again and again, his body thrashing about wildly as he tried in vain to free himself. His vision was blackening around the edges and he couldn't even hear himself scream through the haze of incredible pain he was experiencing. There was just so much pressure. So much strength. So much pain. It was torturous. He didn't even care about escaping anymore; the concept had left his head entirely. He just wanted it to end.

And through some sort of miracle, it did.

A huge explosion went off in the distance, catching the attention of everyone in the area who was still fully conscious to notice. That included Muscle, who ended loosening his grip on Arata as his attention was taken away from him.

 _What the hell was that?!_ thought Daiki, looking towards where the explosion had been from his hiding spot. _Did some other Dopant do that? Is some rival group challenging me?!_ Overhead, he saw the Amnesia chopper rush past them and towards the site of the explosion. _Dammit, and just when we were about to finally get rid of Zero…_ He growled and glanced back and forth between the explosion site and Arata. Clenching his pistols tightly, he turned back to the explosion site. _Muscle's got him. He can't escape anyhow. Right now I need to find out what's going on._ He started for the direction of the explosion, only to stop mid-run. He had noticed something fly out of the cloud of smoke he could see up ahead.

And it was headed their way.

His heart skipping a beat, Daiki rushed back to his original hiding spot, keeping his eyes on the sky as the mysterious object flew towards Muscle and Arata. He crouched down to make himself more inconspicuous. Any minute, and it would land. He holstered one of his pistols, keeping out the one loaded with a Luna Memory. Whatever this thing was, he'd be able to deal with it, even _if_ Muscle couldn't on his own already. As the object neared, he noticed that the area around them was getting increasingly brighter, as though a star was descending upon them. Soon enough, the object became clearer to Daiki's vision, allowing him to make out just what it was. And what he saw made him hold back a grunt of surprise.

Flying towards them was figure clad in an armor similar to Arata's. Large, exaggerated shoulder guards, gauntlets, a breast plate, leg armor and boots, all colored completely white. Attached to its, or rather _her_ , back were strange, rune like wings that glowed brightly. Beneath her armor was a bright yellow under suit. And upon her head was a large crest adorned helmet with bright green eyes glowing from beneath. And worst of all, looped around her waist was what could be nothing else _but_ a Driver.

 _What the hell?!_ Daiki cursed to himself, _Where did_ she _come from?! Is she Amnesia? Is she from some_ other _organization I don't know about?! Who the hell is she?!_ The nameless Rider flew in and landed before Muscle and Arata in a crouch, her wings glowing even brighter before fading away into nothingness. As she rose and stood straight, Muscle chuffed and carelessly dropped Arata onto the ground.

"Alright, missy," said Muscle in a threatening tone as he approached the Rider, "if you would _kindly_ step away. I'm in the middle of something here."

Daiki cursed under his breath. _Dammit Muscle! You could've just taken care of Zero then and there! It's not like it would've taken very long!_ Of course, not wanting to give his position away, he didn't dare try to say anything aloud.

"So if you could _kindly_ back off, it would be _much_ appreciated," continued Muscle, "I can deal with _you_ later." The nameless Rider looked back and forth between him and Arata, who hadn't moved an inch from where he had landed. Noticing this, Daiki grew a bit tenser. Something seemed…off about this Rider…

"Do tell me, hulking beast," said the Rider in a deep, yet feminine voice, "Were you and the downed warrior doing battle with one another?" Muscle tilted his head slightly before catching on to what she was saying.

"Heh, I can hardly call it a _battle_ ," he answered, "The little varmint didn't stand even a TINY bit o' chance against all of THIS!" He flexed his arms proudly to punctuate his point. The Rider nodded in understanding.

"So I see," she said, "Then that means _your_ battle was the one I was drawn to. That would explain why no one in that strange…temple I awoke from so much as fought back." Both Daiki and Muscle were greatly confused at this point. Regardless, the nameless Rider went on. "And as I can see, this blue warrior has fallen to the tides of battle. Truly, he is a worthy candidate to be walking down the hall of Valhalla."

Confused even further, Muscle glanced over to where Daiki was hiding, scratching his head with uncertainty. Daiki sat there and thought for a moment. Muscle was waiting for advice on what to do, but he had no idea what to tell him. _…He can handle this…can't he?_ he reasoned with himself, _He has the Muscle Memory… He should be able to take anything down in his way._ Coming to a conclusion, he pointed to the nameless Rider before running a finger across his neck. Muscle then nodded in understanding and turned back to face the Rider.

"Alright missy," he said to her, cracking his neck, "Now that the pleasantries are over, I'm gonna have to ask you to kindly leave, or face the utter WRATH of my GREATNESS!" Again, he flexed to drive the point in. On the ground, Arata's clarity and alertness was slowly returning to him.

The Rider chuffed. "So you believe that you have the skills to take down a powerful being such as me? I? The great Valkyrie?"

"Heh, skills ain't got nothin' to do with it," replied Muscle, "Cuz there ain't NO ONE who has the strength to take ME down." He placed his fists on his hips and leaned over, looking down upon Valkyrie. "Least of all, some lowly woman." Daiki couldn't help but cringe at that.

Valkyrie scoffed. "Well then," she raised a hand out to the air, causing a bright light to shine out, "Let us test that theory." As soon as the light faded, she took hold of a strange long sword. She whirled it around before taking on a battle stance. "Now come. It is time you faced the Valkyrie's judgement."

Muscle growled before charging forward and swinging at her with his meaty fist. Valkyrie leaned away just enough to dodge the swing, remaining where she stood. With another loud roar, Muscle swung down with his other fist with the intent of crushing her. However, the swordswoman merely stepped off to the side, once again avoiding a blow. As his fist smashed down onto the pavement below, Valkyrie stepped forward and slashed Muscle across the midsection, prompting surprised cries of pain from the Dopant as sparks flew off of his body and her blade. And hearing those cries of pain from him, Daiki's heart nearly stopped. There was no mistaking it; she had dealt damage to him.

Muscle staggered back several steps, the ground trembling beneath him with every one he took. He growled and clutched his midsection with his hand, glaring at the Rider with fury. Said Rider huffed and took on a more relaxed stance, resting her blade against her shoulder guard. "As I thought," she said, "When you fought that blue warrior, he only fought with his fists. And I'm assuming all of the other fallen warriors used other such unconventional methods. Probably projectiles of some sort…" She took her blade off of her shoulder guard and pointed it directly at Muscle. "You may have a tough exterior, brute, but you are only immune to blunt force." She moved her blade closer to herself to caress it carefully. "You see, even the toughest of diamonds can be cut with a precise cut." Letting out a guttural cry, Muscle charged blindly forward again. Once again, all she needed to do was step to the side and evaded his charge. And as he ran past her, she slashed him once more across the midsection. "And now that I've made the first cut," she went on, turning to him and pointing her blade at him, "it is time that I started cutting you into little pieces."

Roaring out in rage, Muscle slammed his fists into the ground furiously, creating another miniature earthquake in the middle of the city. The tremors were so intense that Daiki had to brace himself against the wall so as to not fall over. And Arata, who was still only vaguely aware of what was going on, had to grip the ground with what little traction he had to stay in place. Acting quickly, Valkyrie spread her arms out and summoned her wings of light. They flapped together and lifted her up into the air. They flapped once more, and she shot towards Muscle, allowing her a clean slash at Muscle's shoulder. The resulting blow caused him to recoil, and he stopped the pounding to clutch his shoulder. Valkyrie's wings vanished as she landed just behind the Dopant. Turning on her heels and whirling around, she slashed at Muscle's back, sending sparks flying everywhere. Again, he cried out in pain and staggered forward. Valkyrie followed up and continued her assault, slashing at his back again and again in repeating and flowing arcs.

Muscle's steps faltered with each hit. Eventually, it got to a point where he could no longer maintain his balance. Losing his footing, he toppled to the ground with a loud thump, the ground itself tremoring once his body hit it. He groaned as he rolled himself onto his back in an effort to get back up. He looked up for a brief moment and was suddenly greeted to the sight of the Rider landing on top of him and pointing her blade to his throat.

"The fight is over, brute," said Valkyrie, "You have lost." Before she was able to hear so much as a response, she took notice of several orbs of light and fire rapidly coming her way. She immediately turned to face them and slashed out with her sword, batting each and every attack out of the air flawlessly. She felt shifting beneath her feet and realized that Muscle was about to strike at her. Acting quickly, she flip jumped off of him, spreading her wings to propel her away further in time to avoid the crushing grip of Muscle's arms. She glided away and landed gracefully a couple meters away, once again dispelling her wings. Just as she did, Daiki rushed out from his hiding spot and stood beside Muscle, who was only now picking himself off the ground.

"What the HELL is going on?!" growled Muscle, "You TOLD me that I was supposed to be INVINCIBLE!" Daiki chuffed, tightening his grip on his pistols nervously.

"You _were_ ," he snapped back, "But it seems that there was a hidden weakness in the Memory that we hadn't anticipated…"

Valkyrie loosened her battle stance before planting her blade into the ground firmly. "No single warrior can ever be invincible," she said to the pair, "That is why only the most _valiant_ of warriors are allowed into the hall of Valhalla." She then turned her attention to Daiki. "So, if you would be so kind as to step back and allow the two of us to finish our duel properly?"

The blue armored wolf shook his head. "Oh, I would love nothing more than to sit back and watch my client here show you what a fruit spawned from The Earth's Tree is capable of, but seeing as how you have threatened such an important customer, I simply _must_ step in, regardless of whether or not I want to."

Valkyrie began to laugh in amusement, resting her hands upon the hilt of her blade and tapping at it with the tip of her finger. "Well then, if you wish to challenge me as well, how about I allow you the assistance of the brute? Because either way, you're going to need as _much_ assistance as you can get." That was enough to set the two of them off. Roaring out in rage, Muscle pounded his fists together and barreled towards Valkyrie, and Daiki fired off multiple clusters of light orbs that rapidly orbited Valkyrie. Once Muscle closed in and swung at her, she leaned away from his fist before following up with a counter-strike to his forearm, making him recoil in pain. As Muscle backed away, the orbs all shot out and closed in on her. But much to Daiki's dismay, she managed to slash each and every one of them out of the air with the utmost precision. Desperate, he shot several more out to add to the numerous orbs orbiting the Rider. But even with those, and the flaming shots fired from his other pistol, none of them would land a successful hit. It eventually got to the point where the orbs were more or less forming a solid ring around her. Once she took notice of that, she used her free hand to reach down to her Driver and twisted the sundial attached to the Memory inside.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Her blade began to glow brightly. After slashing down several other orbs, she pulled the trigger at the base of her blade's hilt and swung out in a wide arc, sending a wave of energy out that caused the orbs of light to burst upon impact. The resulting blasts knocked Muscle back even further, stunning him momentarily from the brightness. Cursing under his breath, Daiki took aim directly at Valkyrie and fired off a rapid succession of shots. Valkyrie merely slashed the shots out of the air, just as she had been mere moments ago. But this time, with every slash, she took a step forward. The closer she got, the more Daiki fired, and the more he fired, the faster Valkyrie moved. Soon, she was running at the pair, knocking each blast away from her as though they were nothing but wadded up balls of paper. Muscle roared out again and charged at her with another wide swing. Valkyrie merely dove under his arm, making sure to slash the Dopant across his midsection as she rushed past him. She didn't feel like wasting her time on _him_ anymore, she could play him like an instrument. No, her eyes were set on Daiki.

She closed in on him and swung at his head. Daiki ducked just in time to dodge it and loosed as many shots as he could. However, every time he tried to fire at her, she would either lean away from the shot, or slash at his arm to make him miss entirely. He thrust out both of his arms, intending to shoot her from point blank range. But once again, she was prepared. She batted his arms away before following up by turning her wrist to swing upwards again, slashing him in the chest and sending sparks flying. He cried out and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over himself.

Muscle charged past him and swung down at her with both of his fists. The Rider stepped to the side, allowing his fists to pound into the ground unimpeded. As the ground shook, she lunged forward and slashed him across the shoulder. As he bellowed out a cry of pain, Valkyrie rushed him with a seemingly endless river of slashes. He staggered back, shielding himself with his muscular arms. Growling, Daiki took aim and unloaded as many shots as he could at the Rider. But same as before, not a single blast so much as scraped her. She counter-slashed each and every one of them without fail, almost as though she could see them coming from a mile away. Though it didn't really matter to Daiki at this point, as he was merely buying time for Muscle at this point. And low and behold, the Dopant was back up as soon as he had finished his thought. Muscle reeled back far before throwing what had to be the hardest punch he could possibly throw right at the swordswoman. This one, she couldn't avoid. _This_ one she had no escape from. _THIS_ one would land for sure.

And he would regret that far sooner than he would realize.

Adjusting her stance, Valkyrie thrust her blade straight into Muscle's fist, piercing right between the knuckles and stabbing _deep_ into his fist. And with the amount of force put into the punch, Valkyrie's blade had no trouble sliding into his hand. Like a hot knife into a wad of butter, or a hot needle piercing through the soft flesh of an unfortunate soul. Muscle screamed out in agony, managing to withdraw his hand only _after_ Valkyrie allowed it. He screamed and groaned, guarding his injured hand with his good one. He backed away as far as he could, unable to focus on anything else but the sharp, throbbing pain in his arm, and on the one responsible for it.

"Dammit!" Daiki cursed as he rushed past the Dopant, hitting the back panels of both of his pistols.

HEAT: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

As soon as she heard the announcements, Valkyrie reached down and twisted the dial on her Driver.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

As Daiki held down both triggers and launched out a huge cluster of fireballs and light orbs, Valkyrie slashed out and sent a powerful pulse of energy. The attacks collided, canceling each other out and creating an explosion powerful enough to force Daiki to crash into Muscle. As he staggered, Valkyrie pried her Memory out from her Driver and slid it into the slot inside the handle of her blade. She twisted it by the dial and locked it into place with a resounding click.

^^^ ASCENDING SLASH! ^^^

She gripped her sword in both hands tightly as the blade began to emit a harsh, bright glow. Even with the smoke impeding Muscle's and Daiki's vision, the searing light blinded the two of them none-the-less. As soon as Valkyrie began to feel the immense power emanating from her blade, she knew it was ready. Even with all of the smoke in her way, she knew _precisely_ where her targets were. She slowly lowered the tip of her blade to the ground and held her sword out behind her, still gripping it in both hands. She tightened her grip and adjusted her stance. Whether the two of them knew it or not, _this_ was where they would fall. Bellowing a battle cry, she reeled her arms back like a batter ready to swing, before slashing upwards with all of her might. All of the gathered energy was unleashed in the form of a massive energy wave that tore through the concrete, practically destroying everything in its path.

As the wave barreled closer to the pair, Daiki immediately knew that _now_ was the time to bail. So without so much as a word of warning, he dove off to the side and to safety. Muscle, however, lacked the foresight to realize what was going on. As a result, he was met with the frighteningly powerful force of the attack, taking the brunt of the damage. The wave didn't go through him, but the rest of it just kept going and growing. The only thing it stopped for was the building just behind the Dopant, but only after dividing the entire upper half of the building into two. As soon as the wave dissipated into the air, Muscle's monstrous body erupted into a huge cloud of neon green. Once the smoke faded, all that lay in place of it was the unconscious body of his true form.

With a content huff, Valkyrie planted her blade into the ground. She then glanced over to Daiki, surprised by the fact that he hadn't been eliminated in the attack as well. "So then, cowardly gunner," she began, eliciting a growl of anger from him, "do you still wish to do battle with me?" Daiki shuffled around on his feet nervously. It was apparent by this point that he wouldn't be able to defeat her as he was now. He would have to take a different approach, a different strategy, one that she wouldn't see coming. Then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Arata's unconscious body. A vile grin spread from beneath his mask. The armored wolf rushed towards him and violently hoisted him up, putting him in an arm lock and holding one of his pistols to his head.

"You're from Amnesia, right?!" Daiki shouted, pressing the barrel firmly against Arata's temple, "One more step, and I take him out! Unless you _want_ that to happen!" Arata barely struggled; he was still far too dazed to realize what was going on. Valkyrie tilted her head.

"I know not of what you refer to," she replied, "My home is the great hall of Valhalla, not this _Amnesia_ you speak of. And to be honest, I thought the blue warrior you restrain was _already_ dead." She waved a hand dismissively. "Kill him if you wish. He will ascend to Valhalla all the same." Baffled by her response, Daiki's composure faltered for a moment before he jabbed the barrel of his gun harder against Arata's helmet.

"ENOUGH SCREWING AROUND!" he exclaimed, "DISARM YOURSELF OR I BLOW HIS BRAINS OUT!" Valkyrie shook her head and sighed.

"Disarm myself? Why, no right minded warrior _ever_ disarms themselves in the heat of battle. If this is a threat, then I must say that you are doing quite the terrible job," she commented, "I don't even know who the blue warrior is. I've never even _met_ him before, or know of him for that matter." She pried her sword out from the ground. "But…I suppose a coward's way out is a coward's way out. If you are intent on taking it, then that is fine." By this point, Arata was a bit more aware of his surroundings. And hearing the Rider's voice, he couldn't help but wonder,

did he recognize that voice?

Valkyrie reached down to the bottom of her sword's handle, removing the Memory from inside and slotting it back into her Driver.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Daiki stepped back in shock, his grip on his pistol wavering. His paw began to tremble, and he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. He was torn between firing, and running for his life. But Valkyrie never allowed him to choose, for as soon as she felt her blade was fully charged, she thrust her arm out and slashed.


	5. Chapter 4: Dangerous Intentions

Last time on Kamen Rider Zero:

With The Earth's Tree's next move, a terrifyingly powerful Dopant rampaged through the city. Forced to take action, all 12 troopers were forced to take the monstrosity on to keep the damage as minimal as possible. Unfortunately for them, the Dopant was far stronger than any of them had seen. Once again, Arata is forced to put his life on the line as he does battle with it. However, when things become too dire, a mysterious new foe makes an appearance. She makes quick work of the Dopant and proceeds to target Kamen Hunter Lockon, who has Arata in his grasp.

* * *

Kamen Rider Zero Arc 2

CH 4: _D_ angerous _In_ tentions

The two armored warriors cried out as the attack struck their bodies, knocking the both of them to the ground, with Daiki sprawling across the ground and Arata dropping like dead weight. Whilst Arata fell down on his face, Daiki bounced off of the ground once before landing. Once he did, his armor cracked sharply before shattering into dust, revealing him in his normal form. Frantically, he covered face with his paws and scrambled back up to his feet. Without a word, he ran off in the other direction and disappeared into the darkness of the nearest alleyway.

 _Dammit,_ he cursed to himself, _damn these Riders! Damn them ALL!_

Valkyrie let out a sigh and rested the end of her blade against the ground. The coward was doing what a coward did best. He wasn't worth the effort. If he didn't want to be sent to Valhalla, then that was _his_ decision. He wasn't worthy of being sent there anyways. _That_ much, Valkyrie was sure of. She suddenly paused, catching the sound of groans. She glanced over to Arata, who was beginning to stir. Confused, she walked over to him and used the end of her blade to flip him over to his back. Arata let out a short grunt of pain as he plopped onto his back, something that caught the other Rider off guard.

"Huh, so you live _still_ ," she said with genuine surprise, "I am surprised. You are certainly a resilient one, blue warrior."

"Blue…warrior?" said Arata in a dazed state. He had only recently begun to come back around, but that earlier attack hadn't helped that along in any way. Still though, through is dazed state, he still felt that he recognized this woman's voice. But _who_? Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to think after taking an energy slash to the face, but he did his best to manage.

"Tell me, warrior," she went on, "what is it that makes your body so sturdy? Is it the armor? Your training? What is it?" Arata barely registered what it was she said to him. Not that it mattered though; he was barely listening in the first place. He was still too caught up with who it was she sounded like. "Oh well…" she went on, "I suppose at this point, it doesn't matter." She reached down and twisted the dial on her Memory.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She twirled her blade around before slashing Arata across the chest, prompting yet another cry of pain from him as the attack connected. Arata gasped, his chest rising and falling visibly as he tried to even out his breathing. Valkyrie planted her blade into the ground, tilting her head in confusion. "You live _still?_ My word…such remarkable armor…" She shrugged again, twisting the dial once more.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She slashed out again, and Arata was once again met with the powerful blow. His vision whited out momentarily, the resulting pain making his mind dull again.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Another devastating blow, this one knocking him over to his front. He began to breathe harder, almost to the point of hyperventilating.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

This one knocked him into the air. He wasn't even able to register when he hit the ground. As he laid there on his back, Valkyrie loomed into view. "My sincerest apologies…" she said to him, "I do not wish a slow and painful death upon others. I promise that this strike _shall_ be the last." Her blade suddenly came into view as well, with the end of it pointed directly at his neck. Arata could barely struggle, let alone move at all. All that he could do now was lay there and wait for what was to come…

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She reeled back and swung hard. However, the second her blade came into contact with his neck, a web of hairline cracks spread across its length. A split second later, the blade in its entirety shattered into tiny shards. As the hilt crumbled away, so too did her armor. Tiny shards of it fell from her body before her Driver sparked, and a sudden gust of wind blew the rest of her armor away. With her armor gone, Arata stared in disbelief at who stood before him now.

Erika.

"Hmph, strange…" she chuffed, looking back down at Arata, "Well, blue warrior, it seems that your time in Valhalla will have to wait." The snow leopard placed her paws behind her back before bowing to him. "So for now, I bid you adieu." At that, she turned away and made her leave. As she vanished from his view, the sounds of sirens echoed through the air. But he didn't even acknowledge them. The only thing he heard was his mind, and the only thing in his mind was one word, and that one word was repeated over and over and over again. And it kept repeating until his vision went black.

"Why?"

* * *

The vixen, Tech, limped her way through the hall. Arata's room wasn't too far away from hers, thankfully. A couple more steps, and she was there. Knocking on the door a couple times, she carefully poked her head through before letting herself in. Arata was lying in his bed, his eyes open, but not on her. "Thank goodness you're alright," she said to him, limping over a bit closer. Arata didn't respond, nor did he look over to her. His eyes were practically glued to the ceiling. "…Arata?" He still didn't respond. Growing a little more concerned, Tech scooted a chair over and sat down next to him. "Arata, is something wrong?"

"Why?" Arata replied simply.

"W-well because you're starting to—"

"Why did she do that?"

"…Huh?" the vixen tilted her head in confusion.

"Why would Erika do that to me?" Arata continued harshly. Tech bit her lip.

"What…do you mean?" she asked. Arata turned his head to her, which frightened her a lot more than she felt it should have.

"Why would she attack me in such a _heartless_ way?!" he exclaimed, tears beginning to gather in his eyes, "Wh…why?! Does she…does she _hate_ me or something?! W-was it something I _did_? I…" His voice suddenly failed him, and he broke down in tears. Tech stood from her seat and went over to him, concern written all over her face as she tried to soothe him.

"She doesn't _hate_ you, Arata," she tried to explain, "She cares for you very much. And that's why things went the way they did…"

Arata shuddered as he tried to speak. "Wh…what do…you mean?" Tech cringed slightly; it would do more harm than good at this point if she kept it a secret. Reluctantly, she continued.

"It was…because you were acting so reckless against Muscle," she began, "She was scared for you, Arata… We _all_ were…" She gently placed her paw on his shoulder. "So when you started fighting Muscle alone…well…she took the Driver we designed and rushed out to save you…"

Arata grimaced and looked away from the vixen. While he did wonder about how long the two of them had been in the works for the Driver, it wasn't something that he cared to ask about _now_. "So…she used it…because she _cared_ about me?"

Tech nodded softly. "It could definitely be the case…"

Arata cringed again and shot his gaze back at her. "Then WHY did she act like she could've given LESS of a care about me?! Why would she ATTACK ME?!" Tech flinched. She went silent for a moment as she formulated an answer.

"Arata," she began, "do you remember what happened when you first used the Freeze Memory?"

The panther drew back in a double take, glaring at her. "What does _that_ have to do with my que—"

"Arata!" Tech cut him off, "Just…answer me, please…" Arata continued to glare at her before sighing a bit.

"I felt a bunch of info pour into my head…" he spat, "…Why?" Tech paused again, further aggravating Arata.

"From what I can gather," she went on, "something in the Memory she used must have taken over her mind, and I'm willing to bet it had something to do with the info dump you go through with a first time Memory use."

Arata calmed at that, but only _slightly_. "Alright…but…you two designed that stuff she used, right?" Tech nodded in confirmation, making him a bit more agitated. "Well then…why such a fatal mistake?! The Memory _she_ made didn't glitch out on me, and with a professional helping her, I would've thought that all errors would've been accounted for!"

"Because it wasn't FINISHED!" Tech barked back, having run out of patience by now, "And the ONLY reason she used that equipment before we managed to finish was because you keep throwing yourself into the line of fire, never even THINKING about who you're worrying with those kinds of actions!" Arata was taken aback from the vixen's sudden outburst. He was rendered speechless for a good while, allowing Tech to cool down on her own. After a minute, she let out a sigh. "She…ran off…before I could stop her… The next thing I knew, I was lying face down, buried under the rubble of the facility…"

Arata furrowed a brow. "…Rubble?" Suddenly, he came to a realization. In his dull haze during the fight, he had heard a large explosion go off in the distance. His heart thudded as he realized what it was that Tech meant. No…she couldn't have gone that far…could she? With his heart pounding, Arata opened his muzzle again to speak. "Tech…what happened to the facility?"

She remained quiet for a moment, staring down at her paws which now rested atop her legs as she sat down. She breathed in deeply, closed her eyes and let it back out. She repeated this several times, almost as though she was stalling for time. Eventually, she returned her gaze to him and looked him straight in the eyes. "The Amnesia facility was…severely damaged…by her actions…"

* * *

1 trudged up the ruins of the Amnesia facility, overlooking whatever was left from Erika's rampage. He winced slightly as he strained his slung-up arm when trying to balance himself. As he settled back down, several workers took notice of his presence and saluted him. The Komodo dragon waved them off dismissively and they immediately went back to work. _Dammit,_ he cursed to himself inwardly. He raised his head and looked around at the remains of the Amnesia facility. The few troopers that _were_ well enough to remain active were standing guard, not that there was much to guard in the first place. 1 growled. _Nearly the_ entire _facility…completely leveled due to ONE girl's ignorance… And now the city is practically defenseless… Erika's gone off to who the hell KNOWS, almost ALL of the 12 troopers are out of commission, and Arata's stuck in the hospital!_ He glanced over to where the quick recovery room _used_ to be, now nothing but broken down rubble. _And now we can't even use the Recovery Memories that we had left…_ all _because of Erika…_ With a growl of pent up aggression, he kicked at a pebble and sent it flying off to the side.

* * *

Arata stared at Tech, dumbfounded by what he was hearing. "The facility?" he asked in disbelief, "All…by her?" Tech nodded grimly. "B-but what about the rest of the Amnesia members? What about the city?"

The vixen grimaced. "There are still a few members that can fight…but I'd be lying if I said that our defenses are still strong. At this point…we can only hope that whatever ounce of Erika is still in control will be enough to defend Jinsoku from any upcoming Dopants…"

It was Arata's turn to grimace. With a scowl, he turned away from her and said, "Whoever she is now, it _certainly_ isn't the Erika I grew to know…"

"Arata…" Tech replied, "you already _know_ that it wasn't entirely her fault. Of _course_ she wouldn't do that to you if she had the power to stop it…"

Arata's gaze fell downwards, and his ears flattened against his head. Seeing this, Tech reached over and rubbed his shoulders gently. "Don't worry too much about it," she tried to comfort him, "I promise, we'll fix whatever's wrong with her eventually." He didn't respond, instead choosing to turn away and sink into the bed. Silently, he willed for Tech to leave him be. She let out a small sigh; she was out of ways to try and cheer the panther up. So deciding to give him his space, she stood back up and limped her way out the door. Arata's ear swiveled around as he listened to her footsteps grow more and more distant. Once he heard the click of the door opening and closing, he allowed himself to break down. He pressed into his pillow as tears began to fall from his eyes. This time, he didn't question Erika's choices. He didn't question why she had attacked her. He didn't question why she had gone through such lengths.

He merely wept.

* * *

Daiki grunted as he jerked up from where he lay, only to have his sister's paws hold him back down. He panted in short bursts as he took in his surroundings. He was back in his room, lying down on his bed. His sister Mira was there tending to his wounds. For a moment he wondered why he was injured in the first place. And then he remembered; The Valkyrie…

 _That's right_ , he thought to himself, _I knocked out once I got back here…after I escaped…_ A wave of humiliation suddenly washed over him, soon followed by grief. Someone out there was stronger than him, more _powerful_ than him. _He_ was inferior to _her_ , the Valkyrie. WHY?! What work had SHE done to achieve that kind of power?! Daiki let out a growl, though it went unacknowledged by Mira as she continued to tend to him. She carefully undid and replaced several bandages that she had wrapped around him initially.

"I failed again…didn't I?" mumbled Daiki.

"Yes, you did," said Mira bluntly. Daiki let out another growl, suddenly breaking into a coughing fit. He sat up and coughed out blood onto himself. Once he had settled down, Mira helped him lay back down on the bed. She reached over and grabbed a rag, holding it to his muzzle and letting him spit into it. He laid his head back and breathed deeply.

"Did you see what happened?" he asked.

"I was able to watch," she answered, "Though the camera feed cut off after the Amnesia facility was destroyed, so I—"

"Amnesia's facility was destroyed?!" exclaimed Daiki, shooting up from where he lay and causing several pains to flare up in his body. He grimaced and sucked air in through his teeth as he laid himself back down.

"…Yes, damage has been dealt to the facility," Mira answered him, tending to the bandages that had been dislodged or unwoven from him sitting up so suddenly, "No information as to how or why it happened has not been released to the public as of yet." After finishing her readjustments on his bandages, she proceeded to return to her original work. "Whatever or whoever dealt the blows must have been incredibly powerful. Normally I'd assume it was Muscle, but judging from how badly beaten up you were when you arrived here, I can take a guess that it probably _wasn't_ the case."

Daiki huffed. "That's my dear sister; blunt and to the point." The other wolf didn't reply, only continuing to work at his wounds in silence. He let out a sigh before continuing. "Yes, the one responsible for the damage _is_ incredibly powerful."

Mira raised a brow, pausing in her work. "So you _have_ met them. Hmph, I suppose I should put a little more faith into you. I had assumed that you had thrown another childish fit and payed the price for it."

Daiki huffed again, dismissing her statement with a thoughtful flick of his ear. "It was another Rider… A _strong_ one… And whoever she is, she most certainly _isn't_ on Amnesia's side, nor Zero's." Mira's paws froze upon hearing that. She looked to him with shock written across her face. "Yes…it would seem that there's a new player in our game…and apparently she's very good at playing. Not only did she manage to defeat Muscle, but she also attacked Zero without _any_ hesitation what-so-ever."

Mira didn't reply for a moment, seeming to take the time to digest the info she had just received. Once she formulated her thoughts, she resumed in her work on her brother's wounds. "So then…what is it that you plan to do now?"

"Well…either I convince her to join our side…" he began, staring up at the ceiling, "or…I _eliminate_ her altogether." Mira snorted in amusement, making Daiki shoot an aggravated look at her. "WHAT?!"

"You…eliminate _her_ ," she laughed, "in _your_ condition? Please. You've claimed to be able to accomplish tasks that were clearly ways away from your limits, but _this_ one certainly takes the cake."

"Oh _I'll_ find my ways," he replied defiantly, turning his head away from her.

"Hmph, and is one of your supposed 'other ways' _me_ by any chance?" Mira quipped. Daiki paused, seriously considering her statement.

"…We'll try _my_ methods first before we have _you_ get involved." Mira chuffed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine then. Have it _your way_ ," she huffed as she made the finishing touches on his bandages. "Sooner or later you'll come around to your senses."

"Quite," said Daiki as he slowly sat up and moved off of the bed. "Now, if you could help me back into my suit, then that would be lovely. And _quickly_ too. I do have some _work_ to do…"

* * *

Some time later, off in a nearby park, a familiar snow leopard was walking through a park. She gazed up at the trees as she walked, simply watching the nature around her and enjoying being in its presence. Her tail wafted around her gently with every step, and her paws were clasped neatly behind her.

 _This body certainly does feel strange,_ she thought to herself casually, _Much more fur than I remember most mortals having. Hmm, and I don't recall any of them having any tails… Curious…_ She dismissed the thought with a flick of her tail as she continued down the sidewalk. Occasionally, she glanced down at the bulky belt wrapped around her waist. A few questions regarding the belt's creation ran through her head every now and then, but the desire to find answers to them grew increasingly fleeting with every passing moment. Her ears suddenly perked; she was beginning to catch on to a crescendo of crumbling and banging in the distance. The sounds excited her, and she instantly broke into a run. Another battle. Another chance to take someone to the halls of Valhalla. Carrying her momentum, she hopped up one of the nearest trees and climbed up the branches for a better look. And once the source of the sounds came into view, a disappointed huff left her lips.

Rather than the glorious sight of blades clashing against each other, the sounds were merely coming from the various equipment being used on the ruins of the facility nearby. _Tch, got my hopes up for nothing…_ With a disappointed sigh, she adjusted herself to sit on the branch she had climbed up on. Passively, she watched the various furs go about their work, moving rubble out of the way and helping to reconstruct the original building. _Yes, yes, the mortals I remember certainly looked different from what they are now. Certainly not the man I once knew._ She glanced down at her paw and inspected it carefully. _Oh well, the fur is soft and comfortable, so there is no true reason to complain. Besides, it makes no difference. The mortals still lust for battle and conquest. Yesterday proved that much to me._ She flicked her tail thoughtfully behind her. _So I suppose, whilst I am here, I will simply do my job like I did in the days long past…_

With that thought in mind, she hopped down from the tree she was perched on and landed gracefully on her feet. With a happy hum, she continued down the sidewalk and resumed her walk. However, her temporary peace was interrupted quickly as the wail of a siren echoed throughout the street. Confused, she looked around as furs all around scrambled into the nearest building to them and disappeared from sight. Within a few minutes, the entire area became barren movement, save for the rustling of the trees and bushes as a soft breeze swept through the area. Unsure of what had happened, but otherwise uninterested in finding out why, she shrugged and continued down the sidewalk, humming to herself happily.

* * *

Back at Daiki's place of residence, he and his sister remained at home, due to Daiki's need to rest. "I'm impressed," said Mira, looking to her brother, "You _actually_ managed to make another good sale." Daiki chuffed in dissatisfaction.

"It's not all lollipops and rainbows this time around," he began, "This time, I had to dip into some of my own funds. Those damn assassins are so expensive now-a-days… At the very least, though, I managed to sell off two of our remaining prototypes. They may not be as strong as the finalized Memories, but considering the Memories of choice, I don't feel the need to worry."

"Illusion and Ninja," said Mira, naming them off. Daiki smirked at the mention of their names.

"So _what_ if she's some kind of master swordswoman," he spat, "Now, it doesn't matter. With Illusion tricking her mind and setting up for openings, and history's known counter against master swordsmen, it's practically a guaranteed win! This stupid 'Valkyrie' won't prove to be problematic for any longer…"

Mira chuffed. "You'd better hope so, brother…"

* * *

Back in the city, Illusion was striking down stop lights and toppling trees all around, creating as much of a commotion as he could. With no other sounds to drown it all out, the damage he was creating was about as loud as it could be. _Come on,_ he thought to himself, _Show yourself already…_ Off in the distance, hidden in the darkness, a shadow leapt from rooftop to rooftop, stopping every now and then to survey the area. Whenever he couldn't confirm the presence of any figure that matched the description he was given, he moved on to the next building.

He suddenly came to a stop, catching sight of a figure in the distance. And though it wasn't the figure he was looking for, he realized that it was still someone that needed to be dealt with. Several buildings away from the one he was currently perched on, he had spotted an Amnesia trooper crouched on a balcony, sniper rifle in hand and aimed right at Illusion. Ninja shot forward, rushing towards the trooper at lightning speed.

 _Just stay still,_ the trooper thought to herself, steadying her weapon as she watched the Dopant through her scope, _don't move…from that spot…_ 2 was just about to pull the trigger when something blotted out her view through the scope. She looked up in time to see Ninja thrusting his katana at her. She narrowly avoided it and grabbed up her rifle, using it to bat the blade away. Ninja lunged at her again and again with his blade, forcing her to keep on moving around. Whenever she could, she parried his attacks with the barrel of her gun, with tiny sparks flying off of it with each collision. Ninja feigned her out, giving him the opening he needed to rush her. Dashing past her at incredible speeds, he slashed at her midsection until she collapsed, her armored form shattering to dust and leaving her in just her tactical gear.

"Bind," Ninja muttered, clasping his index finger in his palm. Ropes suddenly appeared out of nowhere and coiled around 2, binding her to the ground and preventing any movement from her. With a satisfied nod, Ninja leapt from the roof and disappeared, leaving the trooper to struggle on her own.

"Come OUT already!" shouted Illusion impatiently, whipping his head around, "I'm WAITING for you, Valkyrie!" The Dopant looked around, trying to spot anything that moved. Off in the distance, Valkyrie herself was once again perched upon a tree branch, watching Illusion curiously. She huffed in amusement, crossing her arms.

"So then," she said aloud, "he wishes to challenge me? No doubt he is another of that coward's lackeys doing the dirty work _for_ him. Oh well…no matter…" She hopped down from the branch and landed gracefully on the ground. After dusting herself off, she looked down at the Driver wrapped around her waist. "Now then…how did this contraption work again?" She poked and prodded at it, trying to get it to work. Her paw went down to the dial, flicking instinctively, as it had been the action she had become the most accustomed to. She tugged at it this time, prying out the bulky Memory from within. She inspected it curiously, eventually finding a button to press.

ASCEND!

Figuring that it was a start, she plugged it back in and twisted it into place. As soon as it clicked and locked in, a bright light emanated from her body.

ASCEND!

As soon as the light faded, she found herself once again donning the white armor. "Hmph, rather over the top, I must say," she commented before brushing the thought aside. She stepped forward and held her arms out to her sides. Another bright light shined out, and her wings spread out behind her. She walked forward slowly before flapping her wings and propelling her up into the air. It wasn't long before she landed before the Dopant, standing several meters away in front of him.

"Finally," Illusion sighed, rubbing his hands together, "my person of interest."

"Oh?" said Valkyrie with a slight tilt of her head, "you were searching for me then?"

"Oh _absolutely_ ," he answered her, "I've been hired to take you out of this little 'Memory Game' that's been going on in this city."

Valkyrie huffed. "Hmph, and here I was, hoping that you were merely a courageous warrior seeking a great battle. Tell me, were you hired by that projectile-firing coward?"

Illusion laughed. "I don't care to give away the names of people who send me, and I _certainly_ don't care about finding a 'great battle' or whatever. All I care about is getting a job done. So now…" He spread his arms out to his sides, and suddenly, multiple copies of himself began to emerge from his body. More copies continued to melt out of him until Valkyrie was completely surrounded by them. "…it's time I got to work." As the words left his mouth, all of the copies drew a blade out from their side.

Taking that as a sign to begin their fight, Valkyrie charged towards the original Dopant. However, before she got very far, something blew up in her face, and the entire area was suddenly shrouded with smoke. She looked around herself, glancing behind herself every now and then and keeping her blade firmly in her grasp. Then, without warning, she was struck in the back by a sharp blade. She cried out and stumbled before whirling around and trying to slash at whatever had struck her. But her blade never came into contact with anything, instead slicing through an image of the Dopant that quickly faded away. Nothing but an illusion, and yet she had certainly felt the physical blow. As she was busy pondering this fact, she was struck yet again in the back. She whirled around again and swung out with her sword, only for the same thing to happen again. A fruitless attack and a fading illusion. Growling, she fixed her stance and stood guard, listening carefully to her surroundings.

She caught the light sound of a footstep and whirled around, blocking a blow from Illusion's blade. The Dopant staggered back in surprise, and she lunged at him with her sword. However, much to her surprise, rather than striking his body, the Dopant faded away and disappeared. Valkyrie clicked her tongue. Just another illusion. She growled and took on a defensive stance, listening closely. Again, she heard a step behind her, and again she blocked a strike. And _again_ , when she lashed out, her blade sliced through empty air. She growled out loudly, fed up with these antics. Thrusting her arms out to her sides, she spread her wings of light out widely before clapping them together, blowing the smoke cloud away from the area.

But as the smoke faded, a black blur shot out and struck her side, disappearing along with the smoke before the swordswoman could catch a glimpse of it. Once all of the smoke was gone, she could see that she was still completely surrounded by Illusion's false images. To make matters worse, they only continued to multiply in number as time went on. She took a step forward to advance, but once her other foot left the ground, another cloud of smoke burst into the area and shrouded it. Valkyrie staggered, disoriented by such a rush of events. As she regained her composure, the large crowd of illusions rushed forward and charged her all at once. Acting quickly, she spread her wings again and tried to take to the skies. She burst out of the cloud of smoke, but before she could ascend any higher, something latched onto her foot. She looked down and saw that a chained kunai was what held her back. Soon afterwards, she was pulled down by the chain and careened towards the ground at a frightening pace.

She quickly righted herself before she reached the ground, allowing her to land on her feet in a crouch. As she stood back up, she twisted the dial on her Memory.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Tracing where the chain led to with her eyes, she swung her sword and sent a wave of energy at the chain's point of origin. Sparks flew, and she heard a grunt of pain in the distance. Soon afterwards, the chain bound to her foot disappeared and she was freed. As the chain began to slip away, she flapped her wings once more, casting away the cloud. And as the cloud faded and disappeared, she caught site of a dark figure dashing away from the area.

 _I see what's going on here,_ she thought to herself, _the copies I've been lashing at truly_ are _mere images created by the original. This second assailant is the one responsible for all of the physical contact I've been having, making me believe that the images were what had dealt the blows. Then, once the work was done, he would dive back into the smoke to evade my attacks…and my sight…_ Another smoke bomb was hurled into the air. This time, however, Valkyrie used her wings to blow it away before it could burst. With it gone, she rushed forward, following the arc that it had come from. She lashed out, and her blade met Ninja's body, lodging it into his midsection. However, a split second later, her eyes laid not upon the body of the Dopant, but instead the wood of a log. This caught her off guard for a moment, but she immediately regained her composure as she heard the sound of a light step behind her. She whirled around and clashed her sword against Ninja's katana, sending sparks flying everywhere.

They continued to swing at each other, with each side perfectly countering the other's moves. After several more clashes, Valkyrie struck Ninja back and repelled him from her. The Dopant somersaulted backwards several times before landing beside Illusion, standing beside him carefully in a battle stance. Valkyrie huffed.

"There are certainly many warriors here that are unable to fight with their own strength. It's almost sad how much you mortals rely on the aid of others."

Illusion chuffed. "Well, honor isn't exactly something you worry about when you're hired to _kill_ someone." This time, Valkyrie laughed.

"Do you _honestly_ think that the two of you will be capable of slaying _me_?" she asked in amusement, "How rich…"

Illusion spread his arms out, shrugging slightly. "Hey, there's no harm in trying." At that, he conjured up more copies, this time including several of Ninja. The two of them disappeared into the crowd of copies as they all began to shuffle around, making Valkyrie lose sight of the two of them. She took on a defensive stance, carefully watching the large "crowd" as they continued to shuffle and mix up. Valkyrie took in a deep breath, listening very closely to her surroundings. Her sight wasn't something she could rely on here, so she kept her gaze low to the ground. She suddenly caught the sound of a footstep behind her and quickly flicked the dial on her Driver.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Turning around, she swung upwards and hurled a sharp wave of energy forward. The wave struck Illusion hard, making him cry out in surprise and land on his back. As soon as he hit the ground, Valkyrie was met with several strikes to her back. She cried out and staggered forward, quickly twirling around to face Ninja. But as she engaged with him, Illusion recovered and lunged forward, slashing her back as her attention was locked on Ninja. She cried out again, and the two Dopants attacked her at once, double teaming her from either side. But Valkyrie remained resilient. Hastily recovering her balance, she parried away their blades before spreading her wings and flew backwards, casting away the crowd of illusions as she passed through them. However, as she landed, the illusions in front of her all converged to create an even bigger crowd. Now, it was nearly impossible to tell which ones were the real Dopants. She straightened out her blade with a sigh.

 _Fine then,_ she thought to herself, removing her Memory from the Driver and slotting it into the hilt of her sword, _you use your powers, and I'll use mine._ She twisted it in, screwing it into place.

^^^ ASCENDING SLASH! ^^^

A brilliant light erupted from her blade as an enormous amount of power began to gather within. This time, she didn't wait to release it. Swinging in a wide arc, she launched a terrifyingly powerful slash of energy forward wide enough to cover the entire crowd. The attack rocketed down the street and barreled towards the two Dopants. Only Ninja had the foresight to flee from it, for Illusion would realize too late that there was no room to duck.

The attack slammed into him with enough force to drag him along with it before it tore through him along with nearly the entirety of a nearby building's bottom floor. His Dopant body burst into a neon cloud of smoke, propelling his real body forward and slamming him into the building. He fell to the ground like a limp rag-doll, completely knocked out cold. Because of that, he couldn't hear the low groans of the damaged building he had fallen in front of, nor could he see the rubble falling from the building itself. He couldn't move. He couldn't run. He couldn't get to safety. A deep creek resonated from the building as it began to cave in on itself, eliciting several screams from several furs hiding in the upper floors. Eventually, the building gave out on itself, and the entire thing collapsed.

All on top of the unconscious fur.

The building hit the ground, and the entire area tremored from the force of the impact. Dust was kicked up everywhere, passing by Valkyrie and Ninja. Several screams and cries were heard from within the building, but none belonged to Illusion. His voice had been _permanently_ silenced.

 _The hell?!_ 2 thought to herself as she struggled against her bindings. Managing to get herself to her knees, she peered over the balcony guards to try and find out what had just happened. Once she looked, her eyes widened in shock. An entire building had just gone down. To make matters worse, she could hear the faint sounds of screaming in the distance. _What the hell just happened?! Who could have done that?!_ She struggled even harder against her restraints, straining almost every muscle in her body as she fought to get herself even higher. She managed to stay up for just a mere moment. However, within that brief moment, she caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette. The silhouette of an armored woman, her helmet bearing an exaggerated crest and frills on the sides. The silhouette of a sword. The silhouette of the one responsible for the destruction of Amnesia's facility.

"…Erika…" 2 spat the name like a curse. She collapsed to the ground, her body finally giving out on her. She growled loudly and slammed her fist against the ground.

As the dust settled, Valkyrie planted her sword into the ground and rested her hands atop the butt end of the hilt. She bowed her head and kept silent. A warrior had fallen, so now she would let her fellow Valkyries take over from here…

Her peace was abruptly interrupted as Ninja struck her in the back. As she staggered back, she brought up her blade to parry away the rest of his swings. "Heh, I've never seen anyone so powerful kill so indiscriminately," said Ninja as he continued to lunge and swing at Valkyrie.

"The illusionary master fought valiantly," she replied, "He died with honor."

Ninja smirked from under his mask. "Illusion wasn't who I was referring to." He swung hard, knocking the swordswoman back even despite her block. "Those civilians inside that building you just demolished are most likely either mortally wounded, or dead."

Valkyrie huffed and counter swung, taking her turn to knock back her opponent. "A trivial matter, I suppose," she said with a shrug, "They died in this battle as well, so they have their chance at Valhalla as well."

"Tch, sure, whatever," said Ninja dismissively before lunging forward again. Once they closed the space between each other, they clashed blades again and again. Each swing sent sparks flying, and the speed of their swings was almost frightening. Loud clangs echoed through the streets as their fight raged on. Had anyone been around to see it, their fight would've been a spectacular sight to behold. They parried each other's attacks on point, and they matched each other blow for blow. Their sword play was so back and forth that it could almost be mistaken for a choreographed performance.

Valkyrie swung out and repelled the Dopant. After staggering, he jump-dashed backwards several times. As he did so, he hurled another smoke bomb at Valkyrie. She spread her wings and prepared to blow them away, but Ninja thought quickly. Hurling a kunai at the bomb, he destroyed it himself and shrouded the entire area in smoke once again. Now back in his element, he lightened his steps and disappeared into the darkness.

Valkyrie stood there quietly, scanning the area and listening carefully. This time, she couldn't hear even the slightest of a footstep. It seemed that Ninja had caught on to how she was finding him, and had only now made up for his mistakes. The swordswoman scoffed. _Fine then,_ she thought to herself, _if he wishes to play like that, then I find no reason to hold back anymore…_ Reaching down, she pried her Memory out from her blade and plugged it back into her Driver. However, as she twisted it back into place, she continued to turn it until the opposite side faced forward through the small window.

DESCEND!

This time, instead of light flooding over her body, shrouds of darkness overtook it. Outside of the smoke cloud covering their battle ground, clouds began to roll over the sun, blotting it out until the sky was practically black. When the darkness covering Valkyrie's body fully enveloped her, a pair of bright blue eyes shined out. She thrust out her arms and cast away the darkness, causing a ghostly white cape to flutter out behind her. She now stood in a slightly altered armor, with her under suit taking on a purple hue. The wing like crests on the sides of her helmet had fallen, now taking on an elaborate sort of earing design.

She lowered her blade and focused on the area once more. Now in this new form, both her sight and her hearing had become incredibly sharpened. And with her sensitive hearing, she was able to catch on to the light sounds of Ninja's footsteps rapidly approaching her. Quickly centering which direction he was coming from, she whirled around and slashed at him, landing a critical blow and knocking him out of the smoke cloud. As he bounced off of the pavement, Valkyrie followed along at a calm pace. As she emerged from the smoke, her bright blue eyes shined through the darkness. The Dopant scrambled up to his feet and made a mad dash for the other direction.

DESCENDING DRIVE!

A frighteningly powerful wave of energy quickly discouraged him from his path as it cut him off, just inches from slicing right through him. He turned and ran again, only for another wave to cut him off. He stumbled back and forward as he eyed Valkyrie's blade, trying to predict where the next wave would be going.

"I must admit," said Valkyrie as she launched another attack, "though your methods were quite cowardly, you fought a valiant battle." She threw another wave that Ninja hastily scrambled away from. "You have faced my judgement. Be grateful, for I shall send you to Valhalla." She reached down and pried the Memory from her Driver. She brought her blade closer and slotted the Memory inside. She twisted it and locked it in with a resounding click.

vVv DESCENDING SLASH! vVv

Her eyes shined brighter than before, captivating Ninja as his eyes became fixated on them. He wanted to run, but he found that his body had become paralyzed. He couldn't look away, he couldn't _get_ away, and because of Valkyrie, he _wouldn't_ get away. She took her sword and pointed it to the ground directly in front of her. She gripped it in both hands as she began to lift it up, tracing a circle in the air as a dark, purple aura began to flow from the blade. By the time the blade was raised over her head, it was pulsating with incredible power. Ninja's heart began to race. He could feel the power resonating from her sword. He knew that if he were to take this attack, he would be done for. He wanted to get away. He wanted to run. But he couldn't. His body wouldn't allow him to. It was as though he had lost all control over it. He wanted to tremble, he wanted to tear his eyes away from the light. But he couldn't.

He wasn't allowed to.

Uttering a battle roar, Valkyrie slashed downwards with all of her might, releasing a devastatingly strong wave of pure power straight into the Dopant. He cried out as his body was struck with the powerful force, and he was knocked unconscious immediately upon impact. Even after the attack tore through him and destroyed his Dopant body, the attack continued to rip through the street until finally dissipating away and vanishing, leaving a demolished street behind. Ninja's Memory shot out of his body as he collapsed to the ground, making a loud thump as he landed. The Memory then clattered onto the ground next to him,

and shattered into pieces.

Valkyrie let out a satisfied huff, lowering her blade and slowly approaching the fur. She was sure that she had finished the job, but after her problems with the blue warrior, she felt compelled to check and make sure. But before she could reach him, her armor suddenly cracked. She stopped in her tracks as the rest of her armor followed, falling away from her body before being blown away in a sudden gust of wind. She clicked her tongue in irritation. She glanced up as she noticed the dark clouds blocking out the sun roll away and vanish, allowing the sun to shine through once again. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Fine," she huffed, "alive or not, you're as good as dead in that condition. And if you _do_ somehow live, I will simply send you off some other time." Left with no other reason to stick around, she clasped her paws behind her and strolled casually away.

2 jolted as she felt the ropes binding her suddenly vanish. Immediately, she leapt up from her feet and looked across the balcony. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the new crevice created in the street. Her eyes then fell upon the knocked out fur on the ground just in front of the destruction, and then upon Erika, now unarmored and walking away. Anger and fury began to well up from within 2. Erika, or whoever the hell had taken her place, had attacked so carelessly, and threatened the lives of a handful of Jinsoku civilians. She was reckless. She was dangerous.

She needed to be stopped.

2 grabbed her sniper and set herself up, lining her crosshairs with Erika's head. Her breaths were deep and heavy, faltering her aim and making it harder for her to properly grip her gun. With a slight growl, she breathed in deeply and let it out smoothly. The snow leopard was heading to a corner. Within a few seconds, she would turn and disappear from her line of sight. She had to time this just right. 2 kept the crosshairs on her head. Her finger rested on the trigger. She had to do this. If Erika was left alive, more lives would be put in danger. Just a little more. She was almost in position. 2 aimed just ahead of Erika, knowing that as soon as she made it to that corner, she would be done for. She began to apply pressure to the trigger. Almost there. It was almost over. Just a few more steps… She needed to be taken down. She was too dangerous. She had no control over herself.

No control…

For the briefest of moments, 2 faltered. Before she knew it, Erika had slipped away from sight. 2 took her eyes away from her scope and stared at the corner from which she had disappeared. No. She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to just outright kill her like that. She wasn't in control of herself, so she didn't deserve to die for it. She would get her some other day, but not today. Today, she needed to get to work.

Letting out a sigh, she clicked a button on the side of her helmet and spoke. "This is 2. Call in the ambulances and a rescue team. We have multiple trapped civilians and the Dopants have been taken care of. I will be assisting you all shortly." She let go of the button and stood up, slinging her sniper over her shoulder. She shook her head. She knew that she was going to need a drink after this…

* * *

 _"The people of the city grow increasingly tense as they observe the damage dealt by the most recent Dopant attack," said Brenda Illwood, looking directly into the camera as images are displayed just beside her. "Allegedly, the Dopants of these recent attacks have grown stronger at a frightening rate. Both this attack and the one preceding it have shown their destructive power, being so powerful as to be able to level entire buildings. With this knowledge, the peoples' concerns grow over the safety of the city. And with the Amnesia facility in such a damaged state, as well as the reduction in available troopers, the concern will only continue to escalate."_

Tech grimaced and clicked away from the channel, sighing and sitting back in her hospital bed. Her ears perked as she heard a knock at her door, followed by the sounds of approaching footsteps. She turned to look and saw 6, the husky trooper, limp her way over to her side. "Hey, Tech," she greeted the vixen with a wave, closing the door behind her. Tech returned it with a wave of her own.

"You stopped by Arata's room after me, right?" she asked her, "How'd that go?"

6 sat down on the nearest chair and bit her lip. "Not particularly well… No matter what I tried, I couldn't get him to cheer up. He's clearly been shaken up by this…" Tech let out a small sigh of disappointment. "So…hey," 6 went on hesitantly, "2…came by my room earlier. She…told me about how the attack went…" Tech nodded grimly. "So…how long are we going to be lying to the public?"

"…As long as we have to…" she answered solemnly.

"…You know that The Earth's Tree is going to benefit for being credited for the damage…right?" 6 asked her. Tech grimaced and looked away.

"It's either that, or we're blamed for letting loose a murderous monster of our own!" she growled, "Maybe we can take the blame some other day. But right now, we don't need any more people against us. Least of all, the people we're trying to protect."

6's ears lowered. "…I know, Tech… I understand…" A tense moment of silence passed between them. Eventually, 6 broke it by speaking up once again. "So…what are we going to do about…Erika?" Another moment of silence passed with Tech just staring at her lap. Eventually, the vixen took in a deep breath before getting up from her bed and walking towards the door.

"We will do whatever is necessary…"


	6. Chapter 5: Fully Determined Adversaries

Last time on Kamen Rider Zero:

Arata is still out of commission, and the only Amnesia trooper readily available for battle is the artic wolf, 2. But when the next Dopant attack comes, she is immediately subdued. Luckily for her, she is not their target, as Lockon has assigned them to hunt down the Valkyrie. Little do they know that they would end up being the ones hunted. Once she arrives, she makes quick work of them, but not before tearing up a section of the city, destroying an Earth's Tree's Memory, and going so far as to get one of the Dopants killed in battle. After the destruction, the Amnesia team comes to the conclusion that something MUST be done before the Valkyrie can bring harm to anyone else...

* * *

Kamen Rider Zero Arc 2

CH 5: _F_ ully _D_ etermined _A_ dversaries

Tech sat quietly at her desk, glancing up occasionally at 1, 2, and 6, who were all either sitting or standing around her. They all remained in cold silence in their given private room, none of them particularly wanting to be the one to break it. Eventually, the vixen let out a sigh and held up a paw. "Alright everyone," she began, "let's begin the discussion about Erika…" Another moment of silence passed.

"It's clear that she's a danger to the city as she is now," said 2, her arms folded and her eyes closed, "We need to neutralize her before she can harm anyone else." Again, silence hung over the group. Tech nodded slowly in agreement.

"Anyone have an idea for a non-lethal method?" she asked the group. 2 was the one to speak again.

"I've seen that she walks around unarmored, so we can try tranquilizing her," she offered, "I'm pretty sure we still have tranq ammo salvaged from the base."

"But have you been able to find her?" asked 6.

"She isn't exactly trying to stay out of sight," said 2, "She hasn't made an effort to hide herself thus far. The only problem is that, _somehow_ , she's been slipping out of sight of our surveillance cameras. So either she _knows_ , or we're just straight up unlucky."

6 couldn't help but chuff. "With how things have been going recently, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case."

"She seems to take more secluded routes, I've noticed," said 2, ignoring the husky's comment, "So we've at least got a general area to search through."

"Will you be able to land the shot, though?" asked 1 suddenly. 2 tilted her head at him.

"What do you mean by that? Do you not have faith in my skills?" 1 shook his head.

"It's not that. But from the small amount of battle footage we have on Erika, we've seen that she seems to be able to handle projectiles almost to the point of perfection."

2 growled slightly, pursing her lips. "I'll…do my best."

"Not to egg you on any further," said Tech, "but…if you fail…and Erika transforms on you…what's your backup plan?" 2 didn't say anything for a minute, instead choosing to close her eyes once more.

"…I'm open to suggestions," she stated. Silence passed between them again.

"Do you think you'll need backup?" Tech asked suddenly. 2 turned to her with a slightly confused expression on her face. The vixen sighed before continuing. "I think…we all know what your backup _plan_ is going to be…" The confusion on 2's face quickly faded, and her gaze fell downwards.

"We're going to have to send some poor shmuck to fight Erika," she declared. Tech nodded grimly.

"I have a way to disable Erika's Driver, but there's no guarantee of it working…and it only works within a close proximity…" the vixen went on, "We have only one Recovery Memory left. So…with all of that in mind…who do you think would be your best backup?" 2 didn't say anything for a moment.

"…Much like the backup plan," she said, "I think it's obvious who my backup is going to be…" The others all nodded in agreement.

Tech sighed through her nose. She drummed her fingers on the table before clapping her paws together. "Well then…I'll go and let him know about his next assignment…"

* * *

Arata stared blankly up at the ceiling. No thoughts ran through his head. If anything, he was just doing this out of habit. He hadn't done much else outside of this. His injuries had left him bedridden, so he couldn't really walk around. All of the channels on the TV were only reporting news, and he didn't want to know what was going on out there, so that was out too. So that just left him to stare up at the ceiling and sulk in silence.

A sudden knock at his door brought him out of his not-thoughts. He kept his eyes clued to the ceiling as he heard the sounds of someone enter. The sounds that followed were ones of the door closing and locking, and then the sounds of approaching footsteps. A bit of screeching sounded as a stool was slid over to his bed. After that, the silence he had been laying in returned. Arata kept his gaze on the ceiling, allowing the silence to linger on further.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of the feline, and he turned his head to see who had taken a seat next to him. Not much to his surprise, he found himself meeting Tech's gaze. The fox had a stern, serious look on her face. Her ears were splayed out to the sides of her head, and her tail merely hung from her body. Arata turned his head away, returning his gaze to the ceiling. He wasn't sure why he had done that; he just knew that he wanted to return to how he had been before she had entered.

"…Arata?" said Tech.

Arata didn't say anything for a moment, silently willing her away. Once he realized the futility of his silence, he broke his silence and quietly muttered, "…yeah?"

"…How are you doing?" she asked gently. Arata held his silence for a moment longer.

"…Peachy," he stated bluntly. Another moment of silence passed. Eventually, Tech let out a sigh and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"Arata," she began, "the team has decided that it's time to take action…against Erika…" The panther felt his heart skip a beat. He kept his gaze glued to the ceiling. "But…if we're going to be doing anything, we're going to need your help, Arata…"

Arata wanted to keep his silence again, but by now he felt compelled to speak. "W…why me? What good can I do at this point?"

"You're very important to our current plan," the vixen explained. Arata nearly turned to face her, but caught himself before he could.

"And…how do you expect me to do so in this condition?"

"We have one last recovery Memory left. It was the only one salvaged from…the damage…" Neither of them seemed to want to speak further on that subject, as the both of them held their silence for yet another moment.

"And…you really think I can accomplish what you guys want me to do? Especially considering my recent track record?"

Tech sighed again. She knew that she couldn't dissuade him from his current thoughts, not with how he was now. "Well…" she began reluctantly, thinking carefully about her word choice, "for this specific instance…we think you can." Arata jolted slightly as he felt her gently grasp his paw. He looked down at it before finally looking Tech in the eyes. "Arata," she said, giving him a very serious look, "none of us want to hurt Erika, especially if we don't have to. However…you've experienced firsthand how dangerous she is. And if we don't stop her soon, there's going to be a lot more people that end up getting hurt…" The two of them stared each other in the eyes, with Tech having run out of things to say, and Arata at a loss for words. Eventually, Arata closed his eyes and sighed. She was right; he couldn't deny that. Deep inside, he knew that he had wanted to out there and find her and help fix whatever was wrong with her.

And now he had his chance.

Arata opened his eyes and looked back to Tech. "…When can I get started?"

With a slight smile, Tech reached back and slipped out his Driver and a Memory from her bag. "Just sit back for now," she instructed him, "I'll do all of the work from here." At that, she stood up from her stool and placed the Driver on his midsection. The belt snaked around his form and latched itself onto him. Once it was properly attached, she took the Memory in her other paw and pressed the button at the front.

 _Heal~_

"It's fairly weaker than its full potential," Tech explained as she carefully secured it into the slot at his side, "but it should have enough juice to get you back on your feet." She slid it all the way in, and the Memory responded.

 _Healing Drive~_

Immediately, Arata could feel a soothing aura wash over his body. He eventually felt strong enough to sit up, though Tech helped him up regardless. "How are you feeling?" she asked him. He held up his paws and examined them.

"…A lot better now…"

"Good," said Tech before she removed the Memory from his belt, and pried the Driver off of his waist. Dropping both items into her bag, she then helped ease him out of the hospital bed and guided him out of the room.

* * *

"…Okay," said Arata, closing his eyes and placing a paw on the table, "let me just make sure I've got this down…" both him and Tech were now in the private room the Amnesia team had been granted. 2 sat directly across from him whilst 1, 6 and Tech were seated somewhere else. Arata's tail gently swished behind him as he went over the plan in his head. "You guys are gonna initiate a lockdown. Then I need to find and draw out Erika. Once I do that, 2 is going to try and hit her with tranquilizing ammo. And if that doesn't work out, the both of us will have to try and…neutralize her."

"That's right," 2 confirmed, with 1 and Tech also nodding to confirm.

Arata opened his eyes with a worried expression on his face. "…How exactly would we manage to neutralize her? Especially with that kind of strength?" Tech raised her paw.

"Well…after _Zero_ became a thing…" Arata's ears lowered slightly at that, "I decided that a failsafe was probably going to be helpful for anything I developed from then on. As such, I applied one to Erika's Driver as well." She sighed. "The only problem is that I was never done fully installing it. Because of that…the disabling device only works within a very close proximity to the Driver…" A silence hung over the group as the gravity of that statement settled in on them, and most importantly Arata.

"…Do you know…if it will work?" he asked her. She bit her lip.

"There's no guarantee that it will…" she answered grimly. Arata felt his heart throb. "But Arata, at this point, it may very well be our only shot." The others all nodded solemnly in agreement. Tech then leaned over and placed her paw near Arata's. "Do you…still think you're up for this?"

Arata opened his muzzle to respond, but nothing came out. He blinked, realizing that he was beginning to feel rather doubtful about the situation. Yes, he wanted to stop Erika from hurting others, and yes, he wanted the normal Erika back in his life, but she was strong. INCREDIBLY so. And the fact that he could very possible have to fight against her AGAIN was…frightening to say the least. He would be throwing himself into the line of fire again, which was PRECISELY what had led Erika to becoming the Valkyrie in the first place! Arata shook his head. No, this was a different situation they were in here. He wasn't just protecting the city from an attacker. He was protecting them from a friend. _His_ friend. A friend that he would have to save as well.

"I…I'll try," Arata answered firmly.

Tech smiled at him. "Good. That's all we're asking for."

Arata drummed his fingers on the table. "I'm assuming I'm getting a gun for this?" The group looked amongst one another, confusing Arata for a moment. 2 was the one that eventually spoke up.

"In this case, Arata," she began, "with you not being properly trained, a gun wouldn't be of much help."

"We have a bit of footage from one of Erika's battles," Tech chimed in, "From what we've seen, she seems to be able to handle ranged attacks almost perfectly."

Arata frowned at this. "Then why are we basing our plan on sniping her?"

"Because that's plan A," said 2, "and plan B is the disabling device." Arata pursed his lips.

"Okay…then how am I going to be able to get close enough to use the device in the first place? I don't exactly relish the idea of getting up close and personal with her without some sort of weapon."

"You don't need to worry there," said Tech, reaching down beneath the table and coming back up with a sturdy-looking sword in her paws. She rested it on the table and looked to Arata. "We salvaged this from our armory. I never thought we'd end up using it one day, since firearms were more effective most of the time, but I guess there's a first time for everything." She slid it closer to the panther. "It may not be much, but it should be enough to help you defend yourself." Arata stared at the weapon for a moment, a good amount of skepticism still lingering within him. Eventually, he looked back up to Tech and nodded. "Alright then," she continued, reaching down and pulling out his Driver, Memory and a small remote, "No time to spare. Let's get this mission started." She slid the equipment over to him. One by one, Arata picked the items off of the table until only the remote remained. He stared at it silently, almost as though expecting it to do something. He then picked it off of the table and carefully dropped it into his pocket.

* * *

One entire whole section of the city was completely devoid of people, with the only sound present being that of the Dopant alarm. As such, the people there went into lockdown as they had been conditioned to do for so long. And seeing the street in such a state felt strange to look at for Arata. Sure, he had been out during lockdowns plenty of times since becoming Zero, but this felt…different. He wasn't being hunted down, he wasn't being targeted by some Dopant, and he wasn't even _searching_ for a Dopant. No, this time was different. This time, he was searching for a friend. Arata nervously tugged at the strap attached to the sheath of his new sword. He looked around every corner and street, having no luck in finding the snow leopard. He knew 2 was looking for her as well, perched atop one of the nearby buildings and looking through the scope of her gun.

 _Come on,_ Arata thought to himself, _where are you, Erika?_ He suddenly gasped; he had seen movement. Getting excited, he sprinted down the sidewalk and made his way towards the park. His heart leapt as his eyes came across the familiar outline of his fellow feline friend. There was no doubt about it, it was Erika. He could clearly see her face, and the strangely shaped Driver attached to her waist. Eagerly, Arata reached up and pressed on the earpiece he had been given. "2," he whispered into his mic, "I found Erika."

"Where is she?" came 2's voice.

"She's here at the park," Arata answered, looking up and around the street signs, "on the side along Pathfinder road."

"Got it. I'm moving out." The trooper paused for a moment as she got moving, "Stay put until I get into position."

"R-roger," Arata replied, shuffling on his feet nervously. As 2 quickly descended from her current building, Tech, 1 and 6 watched through her video feed in anticipation.

"Ok, I'm in position," said 2, "Arata, draw out Erika into the open."

"…Roger," answered Arata after taking a deep breath. Suddenly realizing that his paws were shaking, he gripped one in the other and clenched on it tightly in an effort to get the both of them to stop.

"Arata?" came 2's voice, "What's the hold up?"

"N-nothing," Arata stammered, shaking his head, "I-I'm on it." He closed his eyes and took in another deep breath, easing it out slowly. Once he felt that he had calmed himself as best as he could, he stepped forward and began to approach Erika. Her back was turned to him, and she was walking at a casually slow pace. "…Hey!" he shouted, out, catching her attention. The snow leopard stopped in her tracks and turned towards him, a puzzled expression spread across her face. Seeing Arata, her expression went from puzzled to curious, and she slowly began to approach him. As she did, she stepped slightly into 2's line of sight. The trooper clicked her tongue.

"Get her out a bit more," she instructed Arata, "I still can't get a good shot from here."

"Got it," he muttered in response, his eyes kept firmly on Erika.

"And who might you be?" she asked him with a slight tilt of her head.

"Do you not recognize me?" Arata asked in return, "…It's _me_. Arata, one of your _closest_ friends?"

Erika raised a brow. "I believe you are mistaken, mortal. I have never befriended anyone mortal before, especially from this realm." Arata's heart sank a bit. Tech had been right; Erika was no longer in control of her own body.

This wasn't Erika.

"…Erika?!" he called out, raising his voice a little, "Can you hear me in there?"

Erika blinked in confusion, tilting her head slightly. "Y…yes, I can… Loud and clear in fact, for there isn't anything that could impede my hearing at the moment."

Arata growled in anger and took a step forward. "I'm not talking to _you_. I'm talking to Erika, the one in that _body_!"

The Valkyrie looked behind her, finding that he was certainly _not_ pointing at anything else but her. She looked back at Arata, further puzzled by his actions. She took another step forward, allowing for an even clearer shot for 2.

"Keep it going," she urged Arata, lining up her shot, "just keep her distracted."

"ERIKA!" he shouted out, almost as though he hadn't heard the trooper, "Can you hear me in there?!" The Valkyrie continued to stare at Arata in bewilderment. He grimaced before going on. "Listen! I-I'm not totally sure what's going on with you, but we're going to get you back to normal! We're going to fix whatever's wrong!"

"…We?" Valkyrie said thoughtfully, "Tell me, mortal, what is it that you're going on abo—"

"I SAID I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!" Arata boomed suddenly, catching the snow leopard off guard. Even 2, and the rest of the team watching from their private room were taken aback from his sudden outburst. "Erika!" he went on, "Listen to me! Everything is going to be alright! One way or another, we're going to fix this!"

"We…" said Valkyrie, "There it is again… Is he referring to this Erika person? Or…perhaps…" She narrowed her eyes at the panther, growing increasingly suspicious of the other feline. Letting out a sigh, she raised her voice and spoke to him. "Listen, mortal," she began, "I am not familiar with the Erika of which you speak. So…I bid you the best of luck in finding…whoever that is…" She then began to back away, keeping her gaze locked on Arata and never turning her back on him. 2 growled in frustration.

"Arata!" she said with urgency, "get her back out there."

"VALKYRIE!" Arata roared, once again as though he hadn't even heard the trooper. The Valkyrie stopped in place and stared back at him wide eyed. With his lips curling into a nasty snarl, he took another step forward. "Give Erika back! Give her her BODY back!"

The Valkyrie sighed deeply through her nostrils. "Like I said a mere moment ago; I do NOT know of this Erika!"

"You should most CERTAINLY know her!" he boomed back, his fists trembling in anger, "She's the one you took that body from! She's the one you took away from us! She's the one that you've taken over! She's the rightful owner of that body! AND I DEMAND THAT YOU RETURN HER!"

A tense moment of silence passed between the two of them, with both of them staring each other down. Eventually, the Valkyrie let out a huff. "You must be out of your mind…" she said, taking a step forward, "I can most definitely see the certainty in your eyes, but you truly are mistaken."

As she took another step forward, 2 pulled the trigger, letting loose a sniper shot silenced by the silencer attached to her barrel. The Valkyrie reacted impossibly quickly. Holding up her paw, she summoned forth her blade in time to slash the dart out of the air, knocking it uselessly to the ground. 2 gasped in shock upon seeing this, and her shock was echoed by her comrades. The Valkyrie huffed and lowered her blade.

"I should have known," she said, turning back to Arata, "The first sign of this being nothing but a trap was when you started spouting your nonsense at me, mortal."

Arata wasn't sure what it was about what she said, or how she said it, but he knew that it made him _snap_. Snarling out, he took another step forward and shouted, "It WASN'T NONSENSE! Erika is one of my _dearest_ friends, one that I could _never_ stand the thought of losing… One that I should _never_ have made worry… One that I never want to worry…ever again…" With a fire in his eyes, he pulled out his Driver and slapped it onto his midsection, letting it go as soon as the belt had formed around his waist. "So I ask you…one last time… Give. Her. Back."

2 fired off another shot, but the snow leopard slashed it out of the air without so much as a glance. "So is this a challenge?" she asked him.

Arata narrowed his eyes at her. "This is the LAST time you hurt anyone…ever again."

The Valkyrie huffed, raising her blade again and pulling out her Memory from her pocket with a free paw. "If you have such a problem with my ways, then why don't you prove your worth and stop me yourself?" She flicked her wrist and slammed the Memory into her Driver. As it began to charge, Arata pulled out his own Memory. He held it in his paws and silently stared at it for a moment.

ASCEND!

A brilliant light shined out in front of him, blinding him momentarily as the Valkyrie transformed. Once it faded, she stood in her armor and thrust her sword out, pointing it directly at him. "Go on! Come at me! I shall allow you the first move…"

Arata returned his gaze to his Memory, holding it tightly in his paw. "It's all up to you now," he heard 2's voice say through their com link. Arata nodded and closed his eyes.

"Erika?" he called, slinging his sword off of his back and dropping it on the ground, "I don't know if you can hear me, but…just in case you can…there was something I never got to tell you about…before all of this happened… I found my transformation phrase." He chuckled a little, a couple of stray tears streaming down from his eyes. "I was going to share it with you, but with how things have been going recently…I never got to…" He opened his eyes, the smile on his muzzle fading away. "So I guess now would be a better time than ever…" Gripping his Memory tightly in his paw, he clicked the button at the front.

FREEZE!

He tossed the Memory into his Driver before shooting his left paw forward and crossing his right arm over his chest. As the Driver was triggered and responded, Arata cried out in a triumphant roar, "HENSHIN!"

FREEZE!

A raging blizzard burst to life around him, rapidly morphing his body as his icy armor covered it. With a loud clap, Arata cast away the blizzard, flicking his cloak out to the side to allow it to flow behind him with the wind. Using his toe, he kicked the sword up into the air in front of him and grabbed it, adopting a battle stance. "I'm getting Erika back to normal!" he shouted, with the Valkyrie taking on another battle stance, "COUNT ON IT!" With a roar, he charged forward at the other Rider. As he did, he slipped out the small remote he had been given and clicked on it. Nothing changed, resulting in him colliding his blade with Valkyrie's.

"A closer range, Arata!" said Tech, "It was too far to catch it!" Before he could click it again, he was forced into a two handed grip as he tried to block the staggeringly strong swings of Valkyrie. However, her swordsmanship skills far outclassed his, making it easy for her to get in multiple strikes on his body and sides. He cried out and staggered back, granting Valkyrie the opportunity to reach down and flick the dial on her Memory.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She swung out and launched an energy wave, forcing Arata to hastily roll to the side to avoid it. Once he was back up, he charged again and swung at her with a two handed grip. Again, their blades collided against each other, putting them in a hold. This time, however, Arata gripped the handle in a way that also allowed him to hold the remote. He clicked it again, but again, nothing changed. With his mind being focused on the result, he wasn't able to anticipate Valkyrie gliding her sword forward and stabbing Arata on his chest plate. As he stumbled back, Valkyrie took on another stance.

"I can tell that your focus is not on this fight," she began, "If you continue to fight in this manner, then you will most certainly fall here. And with this kind of fight, I cannot guarantee your entry into the halls of Valhalla." She charged forward and lunged at Arata. The armored panther parried her blade away, only to be struck in the gut by a follow up swing. He brought his sword up in time to block the next hit and made an attempt to counter attack, but the other Rider easily parried it away and lashed out at him. Arata took the blow and stumbled over, falling onto his back. As he struggled to get back up, he caught the sight of Valkyrie jumping at him with her luminescent wings spread behind her. He barely rolled away in time to avoid a stab to the head, swinging wildly as he evaded and only managing to lightly bat at her sword. He quickly got back up on his feet and backed away, taking on a more defensive stance. He panted heavily and locked the two of them in a stare down.

 _Dammit,_ he thought to himself, _I haven't even managed to_ touch _her. Just how much in over my head am I?_

"Come on, Arata," said Tech encouragingly, "All you need to do is to get the device close enough to her belt to disable it."

"I know," Arata growled, tightening his grip on his sword. Casting his thoughts aside, he charged at Valkyrie, who stood there and waited for him. He swung at her, missing as she leaned out of the way. Arata swung again, but she leaned away again and slashed him across his wrist. As Arata flinched from the blow, Valkyrie flicked the dial on her Driver.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She swung upwards, shooting an energy wave at point blank. Arata tried to jump out of the way, but ended up getting wound up from the side of the attack. As a result, he was pushed away and was dropped onto the ground several meters away. He groaned as he struggled back up to his feet. He coughed a bit and looked up to see Valkyrie take on a guard stance. He tightened the grip on the remote and charged again, uttering out a battle roar as he swung. Again, she merely leaned away to evade, but what he did next caught her completely off guard. Following his momentum, Arata full on tackled Valkyrie, earning a surprised grunt from the swordswoman. Now given the briefest of moments, Arata thrust the remote right up against Valkyrie's Driver and pressed the button firmly. His heart leapt with joy as he heard a small beep emit from the remote. He looked up at Valkyrie's helmet, eager to see it crumble away and disintegrate.

But it never did.

Arata's heart dropped as he realized that the device had failed. He wasn't given much time to lament as Valkyrie quickly recovered and swung HARD at his midsection, knocking him back and making him double over in pain. As he did, the small remote fell out of his paws and clattered onto the ground. Noticing it for only a brief moment, Valkyrie followed up by swinging upwards and slashing him across his chest and knocking him high into the air. She then reached down and flicked her Driver's dial.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

She swung upwards and blew Arata even higher into the air with an energy wave. As a result, he fell _hard_ onto the pavement, leaving a dent and crumbling it beneath him. Through the haze of his pain, he could hear 2 and the rest of the team exclaiming and voicing their concern. He groaned as he rolled onto his front before struggling to get back up. Valkyrie shook her head in disappointment as she watched him, walking over to the small remote and picking it off of the ground.

"I should've known you were still up to something," she began, inspecting the remote carefully, "There was no way someone of your skill level would be stupid enough to challenge a warrior as skilled as I without some sort of scheme…" She then gripped the remote tightly, eventually crushing it in her fist. "Well now, you have nothing left but your own weakness…" She flicked her wrist and tossed the crumbled remains of the remote aside.

 _Dammit!_ Tech cursed to herself, _The remote didn't work! Something must have happened to that Driver that altered the results! Ugh come on, THINK!_

Valkyrie huffed and shook her head. "At this point, I cannot guarantee you to have a chance at entering Valhalla's halls. But what I _can_ guarantee you…is your death." She twirled her blade around before taking a battle stance and pointing the tip of her sword at him. "You will not be escaping your death today, blue warrior!"

"ARATA! RETREAT NOW!" barked 2 through their com link. Arata growled as he hastened his struggles to stand back up. Valkyrie then reached down to her belt and flicked the dial.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Arata dove off to the side, barely managing to dodge the attack as it powered past him. As he rolled to his feet, Valkyrie jumped forward and flew towards him, slashing at him with her blade. Arata blocked the attack and was staggered from the force of the impact, granting Valkyrie the chance to land a follow-up swing on his chest. He cried out and tried to back away, but the swordswoman kept on him in a ruthless rush of attacks. 2, having had enough of just watching from the sidelines, switched to her regular ammo and began to fire at Valkyrie in an attempt to get her away from Arata. Same as before, Valkyrie managed to knock the shots away from her, this time managing to do so _whilst_ swinging at Arata.

 _Come on-come on-come-on,_ thought Tech with gritted teeth, running her paw up and down her neck with nervous tension. The vixen whimpered in dread. _I can't think of anything! What do we do?!_

"I've got an idea!" 2 suddenly shouted, snapping Tech out of her thoughts, "The Valkyrie has a limit on her power supply! After two Maximums, she can't sustain her armored form!" Tech gasped in realization.

"That's right!" she exclaimed, standing up from her chair, "Her Memory is still faulty and unstable! It can't maintain itself after an overuse!" She sat back down again, gripping the monitor before her as if it were Arata. "Arata! Get to a clearer area!" Not wanting to waste his time by talking, Arata sloppily parried one of Valkyrie's swings before making a break for the other direction. As the swordswoman pursued, 2 fired at a more rapid and less calculated rate, merely trying to keep Valkyrie distracted long enough for Arata to gain some space on her.

"Arata," said 2, "Do you understand our plan?"

"Yeah," he replied between pants, "I just gotta sponge two Maximums from Valkyrie. Put my life on the line again for the sake of the greater good…the exact kind of thing that got Erika into this mess in the first place…" No one said anything for a moment. He wasn't wrong after all…

"Well, it's like you said," Tech replied, "it's for the greater good. And this time, Erika's part of that greater good. So…if you're planning on giving up on helping others in exchange for your safety, why not wait until you've saved Erika at the very least?" For a moment, all everyone heard from Arata was his heavy panting as he ran. Eventually, he growled and made his response.

"I will…"

Tech nodded, more to herself than anything. "Well then, you better dodge those attacks then."

"I can only try," Arata said firmly.

"And that's all I'm asking for," replied Tech. At that, Arata ran into a clearing, one with a plethora of broken down buildings devoid of any sort of civilian life. Tech stuffed her face into her paws. _Please,_ she prayed internally, _be sturdy enough to handle what comes next…_

Valkyrie descended from the sky and rushed towards him. Roaring out, Arata rushed towards her as well, shocking Tech and the rest of the team. The two Riders collided their blades together, with Arata being the one to stumble back from the force of the blow. Valkyrie then lunged forward and struck him in the chest. As Arata staggered, she whirled her blade around and took on a new stance. "So you've finally decided to take this fight more seriously then!"

Arata growled and stood straight before shouting, "Because I'm DONE thinking about it now!" He thrust his blade out in front of him and pointed it at Valkyrie. "I'm busting Erika out of there MYSELF!" With a battle roar, he charged forward and slashed at Valkyrie. She easily leaned away and slashed him across his wrist as she stepped away. As Arata's grip wavered from the blow, Valkyrie stepped forward and jabbed him in the back. The panther stumbled forward and held his wrist in a paw protectively. Valkyrie took this chance to reach down and flick her dial.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

Arata hastily dove out of the way as the attack ripped past him and down the empty street. After hastily getting back up to his feet, he grimaced and switched off the sword to his other paw, his right having been too messed up from the previous blow. Suddenly, Valkyrie jumped at him and slashed at his head. Left with no time to think, Arata acted purely out of instinct and ducked, slashing out wildly ahead of him. Valkyrie cried out in shock as the blade struck her leg, causing her to stumble as she landed back on the ground. Arata felt his heart leap as he realized that he had finally managed to land a blow on the other Rider. Encouraged by this, he rushed forward and made another swing.

ASCENDING DRIVE!

However, this only resulted in him taking on an energy wave head on. He cried out as he was blown back from the attack, sprawling out on the ground several meters away. Valkyrie huffed and straightened, prying her Memory out from her Driver and slotting it into her sword handle. She twisted it and locked it into place.

^^^ ASCENDING SLASH! ^^^

"THAT'S THE MAXIMUM!" shouted 2, "ARATA, MOVE IT!" Valkyrie swung her sword HARD, launching a sharp pillar of pure power straight at Arata. Without thinking, he broke into a run for the side and ended up getting caught by the weaker side of the attack. However, despite being weaker, it was still strong enough to drag him along and make him cry out in pain. The pillar ripped through the pavement until eventually petering out and releasing Arata from its grasp. He grunted as he landed on the ground rolling. By the time he came to a stop, his entire body was hurting. With a groan, he clawed back up to his feet and stood again, panting heavily and raising his blade back up with effort. Seeing this, Valkyrie let out an amused huff.

"I'm impressed by your endurance, blue warrior," she told him, "Then again, with how many of my attacks you were able to take the first time we met, I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised." Arata suddenly went into a coughing fit and collapsed to a knee, leaning against his sword as he tried to keep himself upright. Valkyrie then tilted her head thoughtfully, remaining where she stood as she reached for her Memory. "I grow weary of this form. I believe a change of pace is in order, no?" She didn't wait for a response, not that she had been expecting one. Instead, she pried her Memory out of her sword and plugged it back into her Driver. She twisted it in place and continued until the other, darker side of the Memory appeared through the device's window.

DESCEND!

The sun was blotted out as thick, dark clouds rolled over the sky, shrouding it until the area was as black as night. Valkyrie's form changed accordingly, her under suit turning a dark shade of purple. A ghostly white cape fluttered out behind her, and the wing-like crests on her helmet fell down to form crescent-shaped earrings.

"Dammit," Arata heard 2 curse under her breath, "I wasn't able to see what this form could do. Be extremely cautious Arata." The panther didn't bother to respond; he needed to save his breath after all.

"Hang in there, Arata," came Tech's voice, "Only one more Maximum to go. You've got this!" With a growl, he pulled himself back up to his feet and took on a proper stance. Seeing that he was ready, Valkyrie rushed forward and attacked. With how fatigued he was, Arata could do nothing but sidestep away from the attack. Valkyrie righted herself and swung at him from the side. Arata hastily blocked, and Valkyrie followed up with another swing. Arata parried it away, but Valkyrie spun with the momentum to deliver an even _stronger_ swing. Arata managed to block it, but staggered back from the sheer force of the attack. As he did, Valkyrie reached down to her belt and flicked her dial.

DESCENDING DRIVE!

Arata was given the briefest of moments to react. As she swung, Arata threw his cloak over himself. He cried out as the attack battered him backwards, staggering him and leaving him open. Valkyrie took full advantage of this opening and rushed in, striking him and making him stumble. As he fought to maintain space and regain his balance, Valkyrie kept on him and rushed him mercilessly. Arata remained on the defensive, as it was all that he could manage at this point, and blocked as many of her slashes as he could.

DESCENDING DRIVE!

Arata cried out in surprise and pain as Valkyrie let loose another energy wave at him, knocking him away and making him land on the ground with a loud thump. As he groaned and struggled to rise, Valkyrie reached for her belt and pried out the Memory inside. "You've made a valiant effort, blue warrior," she said before slotting it into her sword, "so I hope you will be able to walk down the halls of Valhalla." She twisted it in and locked it into place.

vVv DESCENDING SLASH! vVv

Tech and 2 screamed at Arata through the com link to get up. With a loud grunt, he straightened up and looked up to face Valkyrie with a paw on his Memory. _I just need to dodge this,_ he thought, _if I use my own Maximum, I'll be safe from harm._ However, as he looked into the bright blue eyes of his opponent, he came to the sudden realization that he couldn't move his arm anymore. In fact, he couldn't move his body in general. It was as though his body had frozen up in fear. He struggled to move, but he barely managed to budge an inch. Valkyrie remained stoic as she lowered her sword to the ground, a dark purple aura gathering around the blade as she took it in both of her paws. The aura became thicker and thicker as she slowly raised it out to her side.

 _Come on!_ Arata thought as he struggled harder against whatever was holding his body against himself. Tech and 2 only screamed more urgently as Valkyrie fully raised her sword over her head. By this point, Arata could feel the power emanating from her blade. Arata struggled again, this time focusing on his arm alone. His heart raced as he strained his muscles, knowing full well that he couldn't afford to take an attack as powerful as hers.

"Farewell, blue warrior," said Valkyrie before finally swinging downwards. 2 cried out in horror, and Tech screamed and tore her eyes away from the screen as Valkyrie unleashed the terrifyingly destructive wave of power and launched it straight at Arata.

 _COME ON!_ Arata screamed internally. And just as the wave was about to hit him, just after Arata's eyes were broken away from the Valkyrie's gaze, he moved.

FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

Just in time, Arata's body exploded into a raging blizzard, causing Valkyrie's attack to tear through the street before petering out and fading. Valkyrie herself cried out in shock as the blizzard swept around her. She quickly found her feet frozen in place, and she struggled against the icy shell. She swung at it with her sword, but the second it came into contact with it, the blade shattered to pieces. And as it crumbled away, so too did Valkyrie's armored form, with the pieces blowing away in the harsh winds. She suddenly cried out in pain and cushioned her head in her paws.

"ERIKA!" cried Arata as the blizzard condensed into his body, allowing him to jump down and grapple the snow leopard and restrain her. "2! TAKE THE SHOT!" The trooper didn't need to be told twice. She immediately exchanged ammo clips and loaded in her tranquilizer ammo. She locked her sights on Valkyrie, who was now struggling against the panther. She pulled the trigger, and the tranq shot into Valkyrie, finally injecting the chemical solution into her and lulling her into unconsciousness. The feline then collapsed against Arata, her entire body going limp and no longer able to support itself. Arata let out a huge sigh of relief, paying no mind to the rest of the team as they cheered in triumph. He looked down at Erika's face and thought, _I'll see you soon…Erika… You'll be back to normal soon…_

But he was broken out of his thoughts instantly as he heard the sounds of gunfire. He jerked his head up in time to see several orbs of light rapidly closing in on the two of them. He acted fast and hurled himself in front of the orbs, crying out as they exploded against his back. He groaned as he collapsed to his knees, lowering Erika to the ground as softly as he could manage. The ice entrapping her feet quickly thawed out as Arata turned around, searching for the one responsible for the attack. Suddenly, he heard clapping, followed by the sounds of slow, casual footsteps. Arata growled lowly as a familiar figure stepped into view.

"Thank you _so_ much for taking care of the Valkyrie for me," said Lockon, continuing to applaud as he approached, "I _really_ didn't want to face someone with such strength by myself. And _now,_ she won't prove to be a problem…" He raised his pistol and aimed it at Erika, prompting Arata to stand and move into the line of fire. "…ever again."

"I'm not letting you do that, Lockon!" growled Arata, making Lockon laugh.

"Arata! Get Lockon out in the open! I can't see him from here!" came 2's voice.

"And _you_ won't be a problem _either_ ," Daiki taunted, "especially after what I plan to do to you. I'm gonna be knocking out two birds with one stone! Or in this case, two Riders as one Hunter." He gripped his pistol in both paws, ready to fire, when he suddenly heard a loud buzz in his ear. He let out a guttural growl and took a paw off of his pistol. "Hang _onnnn_ ," he said in an irritated tone before placing his free paw on the side of his helmet and pressing a button. "HellOOo?" he spat through his teeth in a low voice, keeping his eyes on Arata.

"That's quite enough, Crosshair," came a strange, distorted voice heard only by Daiki. Said wolf chuffed before speaking up and preventing the mystery man from continuing.

"I thought I _told_ you already! My new name is Kamen Hunter Lockon! I don't need to juggle three names around after all. It gets _confusing_." Daiki glanced over to the side as though the person he was talking to was actually there with them. "Anyways, why did you stop me?" Daiki went on, "I was _just_ about to get rid of the source of our problems!" Arata tensed upon hearing that. The man on the other line let out a sigh.

"I told you once before," he replied, "they are not problems. They are _competition_. I thought you had learned the difference by now." Daiki growled at that, turning away from Arata a bit more.

"I KNOW that, but he and the stupid 'Valkyrie' have been ruining the credibility of our Memories!"

" _Ruining_?" the man cut him off, "Last I checked, there has been an increase in demand for our fruit ever since we were framed by the media for the damage that Valkyrie dealt. If anything, she _improved_ our credibility."

Daiki growled and shot a look at Arata. "B-but SIR! Zero has constantly been—"

"Acting as Jinsoku's new source of hope," the mystery man finished for him, "We've been over this. Your personal pride will NOT be what ruins our strategy, Crosshair."

"It's KAMEN HUNTER LOCKON, DAMMIT!" Daiki barked, startling Arata, "AND I'M NOT LETTING SOME STUPID RIDERS BEAT ME TO THE TOP!" Before he could pull the trigger, he felt a surge of electricity course through his body. He cried out as his body suddenly contorted and collapsed to the ground. Though it only lasted for a couple seconds, Daiki felt as though it had went on for an eternity. He panted as he clawed back up to his feet.

"Please do not make me trigger that again, Daiki," growled the man, "As much as I don't like to dispose of my members, you are expendable. You CAN and WILL be replaced if you don't comply."

Daiki panted heavily, his grip on his pistol tightening to a point that it made his paw tremble. "…Understood sir…"

"Good…" said the man, "Now, you are to retreat…and leave this city until I tell you to return." Daiki gasped slightly upon hearing this. "And you are to take your sister too, as well as any remaining Memories you have on you. Understood?"

It took Daiki a moment to respond. "Y…yes sir…understood. But…why?"

"Because within a couple of days, a particular group of people will be visiting the city, and I don't want any of my members getting in their way."

"A group?" Daiki asked, "Y-you mean… _them_?"

"Now isn't the time for questions. Just retreat. I've been watching you, you know that. So I can verify that you've done enough for now."

Daiki growled and shook his head, taking his paw off of his helmet. He lowered his pistol as he backed away. "You're lucky, Zero," he spat at Arata, "If it weren't for my boss, you and your little friend would be dead." He began to laugh. "But your luck's gonna expire on you eventually, because something's coming that I doubt even _you_ can endure." At that, he cackled and fired off an orb of light, forcing Arata to shield Erika with his body again as Daiki disappeared into the shadows. Arata panted as he watched him disappear, panting heavily as his body reminded him of how far he had pushed himself today.

"Arata," came Tech's voice, "are you alright?" Arata took a moment to himself before answering her.

"Yeah, I think I'm alright."

"How's Erika doing?" Tech asked. Arata turned back around and knelt down before the snow leopard, feeling for a pulse and thankfully finding one.

"She's alright too. Just unconscious right now." Arata heard a sigh of relief from the two females on the other line. "But…what Lockon said just now…" he went on, "it worries me… What do you think he meant by something coming?"

"I don't know," said 2, "but right now isn't the time to be speculating. Just go back to the hospital. I'll take things from here…"

"Roger that," Arata replied, carefully picking Erika up and making his way out of the area.

* * *

Several minutes later found the group gathered in what _had_ been Arata's hospital room. Now, rather than him, Erika lied across the bed, with the others gathered around her in anticipation. Tech had long since removed the Driver from her waist, and now all that was left to do was to wait for her to wake back up. Suddenly, the snow leopard's eyes fluttered open, prompting everyone to start chiming in to help rouse her. As Erika fully came to, Arata moved in and helped her in sitting up.

"What…happened?" she asked groggily, wiping her eyes with a paw. Arata let out a huge sigh of relief after recognizing her as the _real_ Erika. Tech leaned in and gently took the snow leopard's other paw in her own.

"We got you back," she said in a gentle voice, "…How do you feel?" Erika moved her paw from her eyes to her temples, rubbing them softly.

"My…head kinda hurts," she began, "but I think I'll be…" She trailed off and furrowed her brow, going silent as she tried to remember what had happened. And as the memories returned to her, her face twisted into one of horror and regret. "Oh…god… Oh my god…" Her breaths began to shallow, and she took her other paw away from Tech. She buried her face in her paws and began to tremble. "I-I remember now! I-I was pushed out of my body and…a-and I was forced to watch myself attack others… I had to watch myself attack Arata… I-I had to watch myself destroy parts of the city… Oh god…I had to watch myself…k-KILL a man! A-and the facility—" She stopped and caught her breath, looking up from her paws abruptly and frantically looking back and forth between Tech and the three troopers. "T-THE FACILITY! What happened to the facility?!"

1 pursed his lips before answering her. "The facility was…severely damaged…"

Erika's heart began to pound in her chest. It took her a moment to find her voice again. "Is…is everyone alright? Wh-where are all of the others?!"

This time, 2 spoke up, saying, "They're all…resting, Erika… A lot of them aren't fit for combat in their current state…"

"C…current state?" Erika repeated with a trembling voice, "Wh-what happened to them? H-how many are down? Are they alright?!"

"Everyone else is fine, Erika," said Tech, resting a paw on her shoulder, "You don't need to worry about them."

"B-but who's going to be protecting the city then?!" she exclaimed, growing more and more intense by the minute, "How many troopers are left?!"

"You're…looking at them…" 6 answered grimly, the husky lowering her gaze to the floor. Erika looked around, her heard dropping as she realized there were no other troopers amongst them. At that point, she began to break down. She nuzzled into Arata's chest as she cried into him, muttering her apologies over and over again. Unable to do much else for her other than provide her support, Arata gently ran his paw down her head as he tried to comfort her. For a brief moment, the snow leopard peeked out to look around her surroundings once more, only to spot her Driver and Memory placed neatly on a nearby counter. This made her cry harder, and she looked away in disgust, stuffing her face into Arata's chest.

"Shhhh," he tried to soothe her, "…everything's ok now… You're back here… You're back home…" Erika didn't reply, only continuing to sob and mutter her apologies. 1 shook his head before looking to his fellow team members and wordlessly indicating for them to leave the room to the two felines. He followed behind them and closed the door behind him with his good arm.

"…Well…" said Tech, leading the group to their private room, "seems like I wasn't the only one that didn't want to bring… _that_ up…"

2 chuffed. "You saw how sad the two of them were."

"I know…" Tech replied, her ears lowering and her tail drooping behind her. They eventually entered their private room, allowing them to speak freely and safely.

"So what do you all think Lockon meant by that 'something' he threatened Arata with?" asked 2, looking amongst the group. Tech sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever it is, I can only hope that we will be prepared for it by the time it comes…"

"The facility won't be repaired for quite some time," said 1, "Some recovery pods are going to be shipped in, but I have no idea when they will arrive." 6 growled and ran her paws through her head fur. The Komodo dragon shot her a look, though it was apparent that he was just as frustrated as she was.

"As much as I don't want to force them," said Tech with a grim tone, "we will have to depend on Arata and…maybe Erika…for whatever comes. Because let's face it…at this point, we don't have many other people we can depend on…"

END OF ARC 2


End file.
